Ducking stool

“ For Constipation.—Take a small dose of salts or hunyadi water so as to have one semi-solid stool daily. If necessary remove any feces that may even then be retained, by injections of soap suds or warm water containing oil. Discontinue injections as soon as a daily full stool can be had without it.
Habits.—Full-blooded people should not use upholstered chairs as the heat of the body relaxes the tissues of the rectum. A cane seated chair is best or an air cushion with a hollow center. It is best to rest in bed, if possible, after stool for the rest relieves the congestion and soreness. ”

“ Should, therefore, the feces have passed into the rectum and the desire to stool be not responded to—though the desire continue urgent—the feces will be returned to the sigmoid cavity by physiological action. When, however, the functions of the anus and rectum are disturbed by chronic inflammation, etc., the lower portion of the rectum becomes a more or less roomy pouch, a receptacle for feces and liquids; and instead of being physiologically empty it becomes pathologically distended, the result of spasmodic action or of more or less permanent stricture of the sphincter ani. ”

“ When the contents of the bowel happen to be watery, the loose stool is spurted out with great force. In this disease diarrhoea alternates with constipation; the intestines become distended with quantities of gas and feces, which provoke frequent and severe attacks of colic; the appetite and digestion fail; the complexion becomes sallow; the patient emaciates; ulceration sets in, and the patient slowly sinks from exhaustion. Usually, these cases do not give rise to much pain, and what there is, is usually referred to the back, thighs, penis, or perineum. ”

“ Chronic dysentery.— In a large proportion of cases of acute dysentery the bowel does not become absolutely healthy for a considerable time after abatement of the more urgent symptoms. On the slightest dietetic imprudence, after chill or fatigue, or even slight indulgence in alcohol, the old symptoms reappear. In such cases sudden attacks of diarrhœa are common. Some patients for months, or even years, never pass a perfectly healthy stool, the unformed motion always containing slime or mucopus, and at times blood. ”

“ Too tight external sphincter (rectum) muscle, stricture, tumors, etc. Bending of the womb on the bowel.
Defective Worm-like Bowel Movement.—Irregular habits of living head the list causing this defective action. Everyone should promptly attend to Nature's call. Some people wait until the desire for stool has all gone, and in that way the "habit" of the bowels is gradually lost. Everyone should go to stool at a certain regular time each day, and at any other time when Nature calls. ”

“ We have insisted in the foregoing pages on the necessity of a daily bowel movement, and have stated that appropriate food is the best way to attain this. Food that leaves no residue, like meat or finely ground cereals, is incapable of producing a stool. Hence, as Schmidt has pointed out, constipation is often caused by the food being too completely absorbed. Strassberger, by analyzing and counting the number of bacteria in the stools, found that certain cases of constipation were caused by a diminished fermentation in the bowels. ”

“ Sometimes the patient will be compelled to go out two or three times before breakfast, and he may in the later attempts to have a stool, pass lumpy or scybalous feces, covered with mucous, and often streaked with blood. ”

“ Worms are sometimes passed both upwards and downwards through the whole course of the disease. When the patient goes to stool, he feels a bearing down, as if the whole bowels were falling out, and sometimes a part of the intestine is actually protruded, which proves exceeding troublesome, especially in 346children. Flatulency is likewise a troublesome symptom, especially towards the end of the disease. ”

“ In the chapter "Baby's Early Care," the first stools were described in detail, and there we learned that the dark, tarry, meconium stools are quickly changed within a week to the normal canary-yellow stool, having the odor of sour milk.
The bottle-fed babies' stools differ somewhat in appearance; they are thicker and a lighter color, but should always be homogeneous if the food is well digested. They do not have nearly the number of bowel movements each day that the breast-fed baby does. If a bottle-fed baby's bowels move once a day and he seems perfectly well otherwise, we are satisfied. ”

“ If the movement is sufficiently large, one stool daily is sufficient, but where the stool is slight in quantity, there may be two or three during the day, entirely consistent with health, and in a run down state of the system there are apt to be several small movements rather than one full stool. So long as the stools are not watery, the individual may rest assured that there is no looseness of the bowels. ”

“ The stool is slowly discharged, dry and hard, and the evacuation occurs only at considerable intervals and after the application of energetic remedies. Several causes doubtless contribute to this: diminution of intestinal secretion and peristaltic contraction, and probably also weakness of the abdominal muscles of compression, which is often present. If there is an extreme degree of weakness, meteorism and accumulation of feces are other consequences. We do not know exactly from what portions of the cord these disturbances proceed."27
27 Erb, Ziemssen's Encyc., xiii. ”

“ Joint-stools were then created; on three legs
Upborne they stood. Three legs upholding firm
A massy slab, in fashion square or round.
On such a stool immortal Alfred sat,
And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms:
And such in ancient halls and mansions drear
May still be seen; ”

“ take a strict view of their excrements, and, from the colour, the odour, the taste, the consistence, the crudeness or maturity of digestion, form a judgment of their thoughts and designs; because men are never so serious, thoughtful, and intent, as when they are at stool, which he found by frequent experiment; ”

“ An overloaded condition of the large intestine may cause inflammation of the liver or dropsy of the abdomen. When the colon is distended, it becomes a mechanical impediment to the free circulation of the blood in other organs, and causes congestion of the portal system, predisposing to chronic inflammation or cirrhosis of the liver. This latter is a structural affection, and may, in turn, give rise to abdominal dropsy. In a word, the accumulation of feces in the colon irritates both the large and small intestines, thus causing congestion of the bowels, liver, or stomach. ”

“ The Stools.—When the diarrhea is chronic in character, the character of the stools indicates the seat of the inflammation. When there is a great deal of undigested food found in them the upper part of the bowel is more affected; when the stools contain more mucus than food the lower bowel is the chief seat of the trouble. The frequency and fluidity of the stools impose a great strain upon the entire body, causing a progressive emaciation and anemia.
The treatment is similar to that instituted in acute attacks. The starvation régime cannot be carried out for a long period. ”

“ If the stone happily finds its way into the intestine the distress suddenly ceases. In the meanwhile relief may be afforded by fomentations, and by morphia or chloroform, but if no prospect of the stone escaping into the intestine appears likely, the surgeon will be called upon to remove it by an incision through the gall-bladder, or the bile-duct, or through the intestine at the spot where it is trying to make its escape. Sometimes a gall-stone which has found its way into the intestine is large enough to block the bowel and give rise to intestinal obstruction which demands abdominal section. ”

“ As has been pointed out, inflammation, septic poisoning, intestinal foulness, or retained feces, act as irritants on the mucous membranes, thereby drawing the blood to the colon where it is excreted and exhaustion follows. The great danger in diarrhea, therefore, is the rapid depletion of the vital force. But when the small intestines are affected the consequences may be still more deplorable. Then the unassimilated food is hurried along too quickly for absorption and the body receives but little nourishment to restore its powers. ”

“ A period marked by constipation, biliousness or poisons generated within or taken into the intestinal canal is often followed by diarrhea. Mental excitement will induce it in some persons. More often man's early and most common malady, proctitis, is the direct or indirect cause. Some forms of ulceration of the lower bowel induce diarrhea. Chronic cases of diarrhea usually follow the decline of vitality marked by the symptom of Costiveness, which means the interruption of all the functions of nutrition. The intestinal canal is then like a rubber tube with the contents hurried through it. ”

“ Too often criminal negligence or the lack of proper convenience has brought on the habit of using the intestinal canal as a storehouse for dried feces, and the glands and blood-vessels as reservoirs for the absorbed fluid poisons from the feces that have been stored and thus dried. This baneful habit is general throughout civilized communities. It is this habit that has made the words "constipation," "indigestion," "diarrhea," etc., familiar and household subjects of complaint. Medical writers agree that "constipation" is the most common malady that afflicts mankind ”

“ And it is not at all strange that they should, since there is so much pressure from within, so much pressure downward, and so much pressure from without—all through the requirements of fashion, indulgence, and ignorance. But the stomach, upper portion of the duodenum, and small intestine, cæcum, the ascending colon, and especially the transverse colon and sigmoid flexure, are susceptible to various forms of displacement, inhibiting the ready flow or passage of food stuffs, gases, and feces from one segment of the digestive apparatus to another, until the vent is reached. ”

“ If any part of the digestive function is deficient, impaired health, or mental and physical inefficiency expressed in the form of indigestion, is the result. If [Pg 304] the bowel is at fault, constipation is the usual consequence. A perfectly healthy living machine must maintain a perfect digestion and regular bowel movements.
The Function of the Stomach is to mix and churn the food, and to add certain ingredients to the mixture so that before it is carried into the intestines it is (as far as it is the stomach's duty to render it) ready to be absorbed into the system. ”

“ It does seem sometimes that man in his ignorance gets nothing right except to walk forward instead of backward. Even so, most likely he walked on all fours for ages, judging from his progress to date, before he learned to walk on his hind legs. To-day we find him self-poisoned, auto-intoxicated, a gastro-intestinal neurasthenic. His bowels are filled and stretched with ancient feces and gases, and his stomach is burdened with undigested food and tenacious mucus. ”

“ All persons suffering from proctitis and colitis and their symptoms, as described in the previous chapters of this work and in Intestinal Ills, will require, now and then, if not under treatment, special irrigation of the stomach to remove fermentative matter, particles of undigested food, and tenacious, ropy mucus before the next meal is taken. Otherwise the condition will be made doubly bad, for the fresh material is piled on top of the unduly retained contents of the stomach. As evidence of our civilization, we clean pots and kettles before the next meal. ”

“ Probably the most common form of chronic constipation is that which accompanies loss of sensibility and muscular inactivity of the colon and rectum. The large bowel becomes sometimes so distended by the accumulated fecal masses that it has been found after death to measure ten or fifteen inches in circumference and to contain an astonishing quantity of feces. Any part of the canal, except the last two inches of the rectum, which is kept empty by the contraction of the sphincters, may be occupied by the mass, but the accumulation is greatest in the rectum, cæcum, and sigmoid flexure. ”

“ Dark stools should always be saved for the physician to observe, as they frequently contain blood. Stools full of air bubbles with pungent sour odor show fermentation; in which cases the starches should be reduced, if not entirely taken away from the food mixtures. Green stools mean putrefaction from filth-germs; a thorough cleansing of the bowel should be immediately followed by a reduction in the strength of the food and the boiling of the milk. ”

“ The marks of a redundance of bile are, a sickness at stomach, a sense of scalding at the anus when the stools are passing, and the yellow or green colour of the stools themselves. It is apt also to excite symptoms of fever, such as a foul tongue, a hot and dry skin, with thirst. When collections of it are suspected in this disease, it is best to evacuate it by vomiting, for it is thereby prevented from irritating the bowels, and from arriving at the inflamed parts with, perhaps, increased acrimony, acquired in passing through the whole length of the intestines. ”