Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1920-02-19
Good Health

mere Certainly SeeIHS no reason
why the disposal of the small amount
of unusable residues, which constitute
not more than ten or twelve per cent
of the total amount of food eaten,
should occupy more time than the
digestion and absorption of the disable
portion of the meal
Rate Of Movement.
II the food can pass from the
mouth to the colon, distance of
nearly twenty-five feet, in eight hours
in the meantime undergoing the var
ious complicated processes of gastric
and intestinal digestion, there certain
~ seems to be no good reason why 1T
should not complete the transit of the
col5n, distance only one-ffth as
great, in one half the time, or four
hours, especially since the work done
BIZ the colon is almost exclusively
mechanical, the work of digestion
and absorption having been completed
in the small intestine.
Four hours in the stomach, four
hours in the small intestine, and four
hours in the colon, or twelve hours
from the time a meal is eaten to the
moment of the dismissal of the un-
disable rasidues from the body appears
to be the order Of nature.
There seems to be no reason why
the unusable remnants of the food
should remain for many hours, even
days, in the colon, undergoing putre
factive changes and contributing in
no way whatever to the welfare of
the body, but, on the contrary, serving
as a tremendous vital handicap and
a cause of multitudious miseries, NAL
aides, and degenerations.
Those who maintain that the nor
NAL time required for meal to make
/ the transit of the Of the alimentary
canal is forty-eight hours or more,
should explain why it is necessary
that the unGsable remnants of meal,
the disable portion of which has been
/
should lie about rotting, putrefying
and fostering in the colon for forty
hours more, or five times the length
of time required for digestion and
absorption.
This long delay affords an oppor
tunity for the development of put
reflective poisons, which not only
Metchinkoff, but many other inves-
tigators, have shown to be the prime
factor in the Development of chronic
disease and premature senility
Natures Plan
The writer has gathered from var
ious sources a considerable amount of
evidence that indicates that under
normal conditions, normal man, liv-
| ing ufon a normal diet, which will
include a sufficient amount of celiu-
lose to furnish normal stimulant to
the muscular walls of the intestine,
will experience an evacuation of ali
mentary waste at least three times
day, and, in many cases, four times.
Three bowel movements day, in
deed, is the prevailing habit among
primitive people and the higher apes.
The chimpanzee and the orang-outang
move their bowels four times daily.
This statement is made on infor-
nation obtained by the writer direct
from the keeper in charge of the
London Zoo, to which several visits
were made for the express purpose OF
inquiring into this matter.
Doctor Hornaday, superintendent of
the Bronz Park, informed the writer
that the big monkeys Of the Bronx
geological collection moved their
bowels three times daily The normal
rhythmical action of the intestine IS
about as follows:
When the intestine is empty, it is
entirely quiet, When food is intro
J duced into the stomach, contractle
movements at once begin. These So
called peristaltic movements are not
! confined to the stomach, but stimuli
taneously with the beginning OF con
tractile waves in the stomach similar
waves appear all along the intestinal
tract, from stomach to colon
Food the Natural Laxative
Food is the natural laxative and the
activity set up in the stomach by the
taking of food, is communicated to
the entire intestinal tract.
The result is that the intestinal ac-
tivity set up by the taking of food
into the stomach, not only serves to
pass digesting food out of the stom-
ach into the intestine but at the same
time serves to move forward collection
of food or food residues at various
points in the alimentary canal.
When, for example, dinner is taken,
portion of the breakfast is still IN
q small intestine The effect if per-