Constipated bowels : the various causes and rational means of curen / by S.B. Birch.
- Birch, S. B. (Scholes Butler)
- Date:
- 1863
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Constipated bowels : the various causes and rational means of curen / by S.B. Birch. Source: Wellcome Collection.
161/220 page 145
![ration occasioned by unfairly overtaxing one of its functions for the purpose of exempting the re^ mainder. The regular use of a little common salt at every meal is frequently of essential service. Nitro- muriatic acid is likewise indirectly useful sometimes, through its alterative action on the liver. Figs, sweet fruity confections, and other persuaders of that kind, will rarely agree with those whose constipation arises from biliary derangement; for when 1iealtlty\y^\Qx^ secretion is deficient or absent, all viscid and mucilao-ino-saccharine ins-esta have a great tendency to undergo disagreeable fermentative changes, and in this way to render partially putrescent the entire contents of the intestinal canal, and to give rise to flatulence, ineffectual straining, and dysenteric symptoms, through irritation of the mucous membrane and peripheral nerves. A very simple remedy before mentioned, viz., a tumbler of cold water about two hours after a meal, followed by a little sharp exercise of any kind, will be found an excellent expedient in some cases. Those who are naturally strong will find advantage from this every morning just before or after rising, and likewise before going to bed. The more deli- cate require some careful modification in this respect. In full-blooded and plethoric individuals, wdiere an oppressed system needs considerable relief for a •time, the early morning tumbler of cold water may ]0](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20396296_0161.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
