Ourselves, our food, and our physic / [Benjamin Ridge].

  • Ridge, Benjamin
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ourselves, our food, and our physic / [Benjamin Ridge]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and the others, by being constantly purged, be reduced to a wasted, emaciated, and nervous condition. Little as people suppose it, there is no greater wisdom in the whole practice of medicine, than to know when, and when not, to act upon the bowels. Diseases are often caused by the pernicious use of aperient medicines. Great ignorance prevails in the treatment of certain fevers, where Nature always will lock up the bowels and man always will open them ; that is, he tries to do so, but cannot always succeed, for Nature will not let him have his own way at all times; when he does succeed, he kills. The only satisfaction being, that the patient died by the rules of art. A sudden fall that will shake a man to the very centre has often ended fatally from these false rules of schools, insisting on the obstinate bowels being opened. Middle-aged people who have, up to a certain time, been of regular habits, will be¬ come constipated. I have seen this amongst all classes, and in medical men themselves who have led studious lives; but whether it is themselves or others, these obstinate bowels give them more trouble than enough. They work away at them at a time, when Nature is clearly pointing out, that she retains her faecal elements to get a greater amount of vitalizing gases, to restore on the one hand either injuries received or the powers that are otherwise declining with age. Purging of the bowels after severe surgical opera¬ tions, or serious injuries, or after confinements, in order to prevent what is called inflammatory actions or fevers, often produces them, for Nature always endeavours to restore lost power, which man from a mistaken notion will take away. I do, therefore, warn the public, who fly to aperient medicines for every ailment, to desist. I have no hesitation in saying that aperient medicines are used at least seventy-five per cent, more than they ought to be. Natural actions of the bowels often depend on the quantity of food taken. If insuflieeint, why expect the same results as if sufficient had been taken, Nature wisely retains the insufficient quantity longer to get all she can out of it. More thought should therefore be given to the great value and uses of the large intestines and their con¬ tents, for without the latter in fair proportion the system would soon perish.