Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/129

 CHAPTER VIII

THE ENEMA

In fasting for the cure of disease, the enema is a necessary daily adjunct, and, while the fast is in progress, it should be taken on rising and before retiring. In health its use is advised at least bi-weekly, when it will be found a most relieving as well as cleansing operation, at once preventing accumulation and subsequent absorption of waste. In the event that it is administered directly after a movement of the bowels, convincing proof invariabty follows that complete evacuation of the intestinal contents has not occurred ; that there is a residue which, if not removed, will remain to ferment and putrefy. The necessity of this artificial aid to natural bowel movement is thus apparent. At the beginning of the fast, peristaltic action, in the absence of fresh supplies of food, becomes sluggish, and absorption proceeds through the walls of the intestines irrespective of the material present. The fluid