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Show 3 I iicient in nutritive qualities and a gen- i eral source of ill health, it is reason-J reason-J able to assume that all infants so fed will be peculiarly liable to intestinal stasis, or constipation I Parents should be very alert and ! watchful for the earliest symptoms o( delayed functioning ot th gastro-tn-J testinal tract 10 give it immediate and rational treatment. (Copi-ritht. 1914. by A. S. Gray) CAUSES OF INTESTINAL TROUBLE An intimate knowledge of the man ner in which profound changes in tin mechanism of the gastro-intestina tract may easily come about at a ven early age is of the greatest importance to every person desirous of endowing his offspring with the fundamentals o a happy and successful life. To al such persons an amount of study equiv alent at least to that required of th average individual in order to attair the knowledge and technic necessarj to fit him to operate a sewing ma chine or an automobile intelligently and without risk of ruining the ma chine because of lack of that requirec knowledge, is most earnestly recom mended. It is argued by many that suet knowledge is not necessary because natural instincts are alleged to be sufficient guide. But this is not true for humanity's environment has changed more during the last 5C years than during the previous 299, 95C years of its probable minimum exist ence, and "instincts" do not count we have not sufficient time to devel op "instincts" required by existing con ditions, and must, therefore, try to use reason instead. Particular attention is called to the large intestine comprising the cecum the colon, the sigmoid flexure and the rectum. The cecum is the blind pouch or sac in which the large intestine intes-tine begins and into which the ilium or small intestine, opens from one side. The vermiform (wormlike) ap pendix is attached to the cecum, and this is the little body which makes us so much trouble under the name ol appendicitis. The cecum constitutes a sort of cesspool or catch basin low down in the right abdominal cavity and from it, running up the right side Tises the ascending colon. Turning at a right angle, the ascending color becomes the transverse colon, extend lng straight across the upper abdom Inal cavity to the left side, where it again turns and becomes the descend ing colon, following down the left side to the left lower abdominal cavity, where it once more turns, forming a loop known as the sigmoid flexure which joins the rectum. Every human animal still comes !nto the world a quadruped, a four-footed four-footed animal, and a struggle extend ing over fourteen to twenty months is required of every individual before the physical development required foi the general mechanical mastery ol gravitation and the idea are attained whereby we are able tc assume the vertical and walk in the upright post tion. But it is a grave error to as sume that the attainment of the abil ity to overcome gravity ends the struggle, strug-gle, because it does not. Gravity is man's implacable enemy; it is per elstently in operation tending to drag him down. With this idea firmly fixed in mind investigation makes it very clear that there are at least six points in the large intestine alone where the ordinary ordi-nary mechanical laws may easily produce pro-duce serious physical changes whenever when-ever there is the least tendency toward enervation. The first point is in the cecum, which may relax and sag under un-der gravitational pull in any weakened physical state. The second is at the point where the ascending colon turns and becomes the transverse colon. Functional obstruction similar to that resulting from a sharp bend in a water hose is not uncommon at this point. Sagging of the transverse colon in the middle, forming a festoon, a deep curve instead of a straight line across the abdomen, constitutes the third point. The downward turn of the transverse trans-verse colon into the descending colon constitutes the fourth point, which obviously ob-viously must be more likely to kink the greater the degree of sag In the transverse colon. The fifth and sixth points are in the turns of the sigmoid flexure, between the descending colon and the rectum. Under the conditions of modern industrialism in-dustrialism the trunk of the body Is maintained In the erect position, either eith-er standing or sitting, practically from the time we rise in the morning until un-til we go to bed at night, and all the time the trunk is erect gravity is at work pulling the intestinal organs down and out of position. This tendency ten-dency to drop or sag must very obvi ously be exaggerated by any condition of weakness, and therefore, because any food supply not of maternal origin is universally recognized as being de- |