ey are almost sure to be
troubled with chronic constipation. It is true that there are many
constipated people who do not seem to be nervous and who resent being
classed among the neurotics. Everybody knows that the occasional
individual who has difficulty in swallowing his food is nervous and
that the, trouble lies not in the muscles of his throat but in the
ideas of his mind. But very few people seem to realize that the more
common individual who makes hard work of that other simple
process--elimination of his intestinal waste matter--is suffering
from the same kind of disturbance and giving way to a nervous trick.
When all the facts are in, the constipated person will have hard work
to clear himself of at least one count on the charge of nerves.

=An Oft-told Tale.= Sooner or later, then, the neurotic, whether he
calls himself a neurotic or not, is very likely to begin worrying over
his diet or his sedentary occupation. He imagines himself the victim
of autointoxication, afflicted with paralysis of the colon or dearth
of intestinal secretions. He leaves off eating white bread, berries,
cheese, chocolate, and many another innocent food, and insists on a
diet of bran-biscuit, flaxseed breakfast-foods, prunes, spinach,
cream, and olive-oil with doses of mineral oil between meals. In all
probability, he begins a course of massage or he starts to take extra
long walks and to exercise night and morning, pulling his knees up to
his chin and touching his fingers to his toes. When all these measures
fail, he gives in to the morning enema or the nightly pill, in
imminent danger of succumbing to a life-long habit.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CONSTIPATION

=What the Colon Is For.= It is well, then to have a fair understanding
of the structure and purpose of our intestinal machinery. Contrary to
general opinion, the intestines are not a dumping-ground but a
digestive organ. After the food is partly digested in the stomach, it
passes through a twenty-two foot tube (the small intestine) into a
five-foot tube (the large intestine or colon) where digestion is
completed, the nutriment is absorbed, and the waste matter is passed
on and out through the rectum. As the food passes along the colon,
pushed slowly ahead by the peristaltic wave, or rhythmic muscular
contractions of the intestinal wall, it is seized upon by the four
hundred varieties of friendly bacteria which inhabit the intestines of
every healthy person, and is changed into a for