Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/136

 descending colon, down the transverse bowel, and through the ascending gut to the caecum, completely flushing the organ. The kneechest and the flat-on-the-back positions insure, with even greater ease, full cleansing of the bowel. When the injection is taken in the sitting posture, gravity and the contents of the lower portion of the bowel prevent the rise of the water unless some special device embodying force is utilized; even then only the descending colon receives the benefit of the flow, and dilatation of the rectum and the flexure is certain to occur, with possible mechanical injury.

Soap-suds, salt, soda, and the like are to be avoided in the preparation of the fluid in the injection. Similarly, oils of any kind are forbidden, and water warmed to body temperature, not higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, should be the only flushing agent. Absorption of a portion of the contents of each bag is almost instantaneous, so the safer plan lies in using no foreign substance whatever. Copious discharge from the bladder immediately after rectal injection is the common indication of the rapidity with which absorption occurs through the walls of the colon, and this, in itself, is proof