The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-11-01
ALL BOUND UP WITH A 1.-THE

ALL BOUND UP WITH A LINE
 Back in the days of the almanac the dictun that a daily bowel move ment was essential for every one and inactive" bowel function ac- counted for whatever ailed the dumb customer, was broadcast as widely as the quacks and nostrum nnongers could circulate their free bait.
 Upon that dictum, which was left unquestioned for a century or more to permeat the popular mind, rests the morbid notion, still prevalent, that the first principle in the main- tenance of health, prevention of dis ease and cure of illness is to procure by whatever means 8 thorough" movement of the bowel.
 This vicious teaching, I say, was accepted as the truth by the great unlearned laity simply because for 8 century or more the medical pro- fession hypocritically did not see fit to oppose it. Dignified silence, the old timers called their attitude. Even today the doctors still get away with murder in that way-and how they snarl and gnash their teeth when some of theiE more fragrant sins of commission or omission are exposed to public view!
 Unlearned laity, I say, referring, of course, not to the average lay- mans knowledge of history, geogra- phy or Romance languages. but to his knowledge of the human body and how 1t works. In this depart ment of learning the college or uni- versity graduate is scarcely distin- guishable from the regular moron. The human body and its functions is subject which great American educators have always regarded as nasty.
 In the earlier days the quackS and noStrum mongerS unequivocally de- clared in the almanac that it was risky to let your bowels go without cleaning out at stated intervals. Today the chalatans, canvassing the public via radio, drive that same suggestion home but rather by in- direct means and constant repeti- tion. That's their business-to keep prospective customers scared or anx- iouS about the vague toxic" conse- quences of any "Sluggistness" in the secretion of bile or in peristalsis
 It is nobody's business to tell the truth, to teach the poor ignorant college graduate elementary physi- ology. One gets only blows in the dark and attacks from ambush for trying to enlighten the laity about such things.
 Not only the intestinal functions but all of the processes of digestion, from the instant food is swallowed to the instant the residue is, expelled from the alimentary canal, are gov- erned by the unconscious, autonomic, involuntary, sympathetic" nervous mechanism, and not at all by will or brain. It is as childish to imagine you can regulate" the bowel by means of this or that medicine as 1t would be to make a practice of talk ing mild diaphoretic every week to keep your imaginary pores" clear so your system could throw off hypothetical toxic wastes" such as the nostrum vendors conjure up to frighten you.
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 Lost, a Tack
 Husband, upholsterer, swallowed a tack. It may have gone down his wif1dninN i1fn lis l1Irr Ja Aid not gag much and he has felt no dis tress. If theer is possibility it went into his lung, would like to have it X-rayed. (Mrs. R. L. K.)
 Answer-There is such possibility. But it would be foolish to decide about X-ray yourself. Leave that to the judgment of your physician. If the tack went into the stomach, it was probably soon embedded in ball or mass of food residues and passed from the bowel within 40 to