Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/140

 stretcher upon which the subject may comfortably lie, can be placed over the bath tub. If this apparatus cannot be procured, a triangular platform of three boards covered with a blanket and oil-cloth, its base arranged so as to cross the top of the tub beneath the buttocks, may be used as a substitute. By this means all effort on the part of the patient in retaining position is removed, a matter of the utmost importance when excessive weakness is present.

The operator in administering the enema, or the patient himself, will often find it needful to repeat its application to the extent of twenty or more quarts, or until the fluid returns comparatively colorless. Observation shows that, even to the twentieth day of a fast and sometimes thereafter, great amounts of bile and mucus appear in the discharges. The necessity is thus apparent of the daily use of the enema. Repetition insuring thorough cleansing of the colon is most essential in employing the internal bath, for the injection of only a small quantity of water acts detrimentally since it serves to render the contents of the bowel easily absorptive, and is not in amount sufficient to be evacuated freely. For this reason also small enemas