Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1915-03-12
(CopyEisht, 1914, by A. S. Gray)
CONSTIPATION,

SONollFAtION.
r. Constipation or chronic .ntestina
stasiI, as tits now officially desig
mated, with its attendant poisoned
state of the blood from time imme
mortal has been held responsible fol
most OF ills humanity Is heir to.
III the past constipated patients
were piled with pill and powder, oils
salts, waters and other laxative com
pounds. both natural and manufac
tured. One after the other invari
ably they all failed in the end and
the doctor had to be again consulted
Generally he only varied the dose of
this or that or prescribed another
drug, without any attempt at a
thorough Investigation, and generally,
too, without even so much as a cur
sorry examination. Finally the public
caught the idea and ceased going to
the doctor for such minor allment
and experimental with various pills,
powders and waters, such as the in
genuity Of the manufacturer could
devise or the druggist could sug.
gest.
Aided and abetted by the artistic
photographer and the circus bill post.
er, an educational campaign for in.
struction on how every man may be.
come his own physician now forms
highly suggestive background to the
general landscape throughout the
country. AS the result Of clever ad.
vertising campaigns the carrying of
a box of laxative tablets, pills or
candy in the pocket in order to facili-
tate the regular daily dose of the
remedy has become habitual with a
large percentage of our people
Constipation unfortunately is not
an Insignificant local affair that may
easily be overcome by some simple
remedy but, on the contrary, it is gen.
orally q symptom Of a slowly develop
ing constitutional condition, the spe-
cific name of which will appear in
the death certificate of the victim.
1t is only OF late years that we really
have begun to understand the relations
existing between constipation and the
rest OF the body; to comprehend that
functional inactivity in. the gastric
tract is perhaps but a part of a gen.
eral functional arrangement certain
to end disastrously if not corrected
by a comprehensive readjustment OF
s,,N sr{I 1oh 70 LOT
BY far the most important factor in
the maintenance Of health is food. To
the average individual food means
something edible and palatable, which
will. satisfy the demands OF hunger
and thirst and enable him to maintain
normal strength of body and mind.
Up to very recent time textbooks on
physiology taught that the three chief
foods Of men we're proteids, fats and
carbohydrates. Tucked away in an
obscure corner, if indeed they were
at all mentioned, under the name OF
ash the mineral salts received bare
mention, the author usually explaining
that little or nothing was known OF
their action in physiology.
Recently we have come to under
stand that not only are there many
proteids and that some proteids do
not alone suffice to sustain human
life, but we have come to understand
also that proteids. fats and carhohy'
drates are not the three chief foods
of man.
Going back through millions Of
years to the single cell, to the ameba
state of existence, we find that the
primary food elements were, and still
are, air, water and mineral salts. Com
ing up the long ladder Of progressive
animal evolution, we finally come to
a period where proteids, fats and car
In fixed det1niteness and
became necessary to us
as vertebrates; and, while these three
classes OF foods are absolutely vital
to our existence as higher animals.
we are beginning to comprehend that
they are still subsidiary to the first
as our more recently
acquired BRAIN superimposed on to
our primitive sympathetic system, has
receatly been demonstrated to be sub
sidiary to the ductless gland system
our primordial nervous
system. .sl& &
The individual workers Of the body, !
he cells composing our bodies, are
nourished by the blood stream, and |
he most valuable components Of that
wonderful fluid are known to be the
mineral salts, and these are absolutely
to maintain the normal com.
position and activity Of the individual
,ell; hence the same must be true
II the complete. organism, because the
organism is constructed out OF the
blood stream. e. !
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