is only one cause for it, and that is the retention of waste matters in the system. These substances may be in the gaseous, liquid or solid form, but they are foreign bodies, inimical to the welfare of the organism, and their presence must result in derangement of bodily function.

The great need of the present day is adequate instruction in physiology and hygiene that humanity may not only know how to secure the restoration of health, when lost, but by attention to physiological and sanitary laws may retain good health indefinitely. The body is the theatre of constant change. The processes of tearing down and building up proceed without intermission during life. If construction exceeds destruction, the result is health; but just as surely as destruction exceeds repair, disease is the result. But during every moment of life waste is being formed by the destruction of tissue, and this effete material must be promptly removed if the individual would enjoy health. Nature has provided adequate means for the removal of these substances which are valueless to the economy, the retention of which obstructs and irritates the complex mechanism of the system, the principal avenues for its expulsion being the lungs, the skin and the intestinal canal. The latter is infinitely more important than the others, since by it the waste products of digestion are expelled. If it fails to promptly fulfil its office, every vital function is interfered with; and in addition the fluid portion of the semi-liquid waste is reabsorbed directly into the circulation, redepositing in the very fountain of life, matter which the system has thrown off as worthless. Should the system be exposed to a chill, while in this condition, a congestion

of the surface excretory vessels takes place; and practically the whole work of elimination is thrown upon the already hard-worked kidneys, frequently resulting in uræmic poisoning and death.

The presence of a grain of sand in a watch will retard its movements, if not arrest them altogether. What, then, must be the result of an accumulation of impurities in the physical system? The finely adjusted balance that is capable of weighing the thousandth part of a grain, is carefully protected under a glass cover, for even impalpable dust would clog its movements. Reflect then upon the amount of friction that must be perpetually going on in the human organism owing to the retention of effete matter! And since not even the most cunning product of man's handiwork can compare with the intricate mechanism of the body, the importance of eliminating the waste becomes manifest. Here, in a nutshell, lies the secret of disease.

Let us now consider how the retention of waste affects the system-how the deleterious effects are produced. There are three factors at work in this process, mechanical, gaseous and absorptive, the last named being infinitely the most pernicious. We will first consider the mechanical.

Nature has beautifully apportioned the space in the abdominal cavity, each part of the viscera having ample room for the performance of its special function, but any abnormal increase in size of any part of the contents of the cavity must necessarily create disturbance. Now, when the food leaves the stomach, where it has been churned into a pulpaceous mass, it passes into the duo

denum, or second stomach, where it receives an augmentation of fluid material from the liver and pancreas; consequently, when it reaches the small intestine, where absorption takes place, it is in a well diluted condition. During its passage through the small intestine, the nutrient portion of the ingesta is abstracted from it by the villi (small hair-like processes) with which the small intestine is thickly studded, so that at the end of its journey of about twenty-two feet, (if digestion is normal) all that is of value to the organism has been appropriated—the remainder being refuse. This waste product passes into the colon, or large intestine, and should be promptly expelled. If prompt expulsion does not take place, this is what happens: The fluid portion of this semi-liquid waste is reabsorbed through the walls of the colon directly into the circulation, a percentage of the solids being deposited on the walls of the intestine. This process of accretion goes on from day to day, week to week, month to month, until it not infrequently happens that the colon becomes distended to several times its natural size. Instances are on record, where these abnormal accumulations of fæcal matter in the colon have been mistaken for enlargement of the liver, and even pregnancy. A surgeon in London has a preparation of the colon measuring some twenty inches in circumference, containing three gallons of fæcal matter, and even larger accumulations have been reported. The foregoing instances are, of course, exceptional ones, but it is safe to assert that seventy per cent. of the colons of the human family (living under civilized conditions) are impacted, and some of them terribly so. It is impossible to estimate

the amount of evil caused by an engorged colon monopolizing two or three times its allotted space in the abdominal cavity, crowding and hampering the other organs in their work.

But the effects of direct mechanical pressure are not the only ones. The accumulations in the colon necessarily arrest the free passage of the product of the small intestine, and that, in turn causes undue retention of food in the stomach, with consequent fermentation; while the irritation, due to pressure on the nerve terminals by the distension, and by the encrusted matter adhering to the intestinal wall, is simply incalculable.

The effects of gaseous accumulations in the alimentary canal are not thoroughly understood at present—that is— the physiological effects. The more direct effects, as manifested in abdominal distension, and the terrible distress that frequently follows eating, are unfortunately, but too well known. The reader does not need to be told that during decomposition of organic substances gases are evolved, and no matter where the process goes on, the results are always the same. Owing to the causes previously mentioned, the intestinal canal usually offers special facilities for the production of gases, owing to the retention of partially digested food, in a medium highly favorable to fermentation. A moderate amount of sulphuretted hydrogen, and also carburetted hydrogen is always present in the colon, normally, to preserve moderate distension of the walls, while the gases usually found in the stomach and small intestine, are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbonic acid. What functional disturbances may arise from the presence of these gaseous sub

stances in excess in the system is, at present, largely a matter of conjecture, but it is known that a stream of carbonic acid gas, or hydrogen continuously directed against a muscle will cause paralysis of that structure. The expansive force of gases is too well known to need comment, and the force with which they will at times distend the abdominal wall points irresistibly to the conclusion that such an amount of force exerted against vital organs cannot be otherwise than productive of serious harm. It is not at all improbable that many cases of hernia and uterine displacement may be due to this hitherto unsuspected cause.

That they penetrate the neighboring tissues is an established fact, and it is quite conceivable that their action upon the nervous system through the medium of the circulation may lie at the root of many of the cases of neurasthenia that are now so prevalent.

But the auto-infection that results from the absorption of the liquid waste into the blood supply is by far the most serious feature. The blood is the life. From it the system obtains all the material for the formation of fresh tissue, and it is a practical impossibility for good healthy structures to be built up from a tainted blood current. Why is it that the vegetation on the banks of a stream, on which a manufacturing town is located, is invariably stunted and withered? Because the water that should nourish it is polluted by the refuse poured into it, and no amount of deodorants or disinfectants will prove of any avail to restore the devitalized vegetation, but will rather aggravate the trouble. But cut off the source of pollution, and in an incredibly short space of time the vegetation will take on a new lease of life.