hree or four miles, and on returning can take a warm bath followed by a
brisk rub-off with a coarse towel wrung out of cold water, or they can
use a hose with a spray nozzle and allow the cold water to run over them
for a few seconds after the warm dip in the bath tub. After the adoption
of these measures the bowels may tend to regulate themselves. If so,
this is the proper time to cultivate the habit of regularity, by
selecting a certain time each morning or before retiring for this
function. The patient should go to the toilet at the regular time even
if the desire is not present. By straining slightly, and by encouraging
the voluntary desire, the bowel may receive the necessary stimulation
and an evacuation may result. If there should seem to be no disposition
on the part of the bowel to become accustomed to this procedure, we must
aid it for the time being. A glycerine or soap suppository, a glass of
aperient water, Pluto, Hunyadi, Apenta, or the imported Carlsbad salt in
warm water, or the effervescent Citrate of Magnesium, will result in a
prompt emptying of the bowel. There are a great many other cathartic
drugs and many well-known laxative pills, etc., but these are not
necessary if a systematic effort is being made to cure the constipation,
because success will come within a reasonable time if the patient will
not become unduly discouraged. Many victims are deficient in fat; the
bowel needs lubrication; we therefore recommend a good quality of olive
oil, one tablespoonful after each meal. Frequently it is of advantage to
inject, high up in the bowel, two or three ounces of sweet oil at night,
as is done in children, and which is fully described in the previous
chapter.

If the constipation is due to deranged nerves, in which the reflexes of
the intestinal wall seem to share, we advise massage of the abdomen, and
an occasional hot or cold rectal injection. The proper quantity to use
for this purpose is from two to three quarts. The solution to use is the
normal salt solution. See page 627.

In that form of incomplete constipation in which we stated that there
was a layer of hard, impacted feces covering the bowel wall, a special
method of treatment is necessary. In these cases nothing will succeed as
satisfactorily as very hot, high rectal injections. The object of course
is to rid the bowel of the old, hard, dry mass, which has collected
there, before we can hope to get the bowel into condition to perform its