Intestinal ills: Chronic constipation, indigestion, autogenetic poisons, diarrhea, piles, etc. Also auto-infection, auto-intoxication, anemia, emaciation, etc. due to proctitis and colitis

About this book

The work is a nineteenth‑century medical treatise that assembles a series of articles originally printed in the New York‑based periodical Health. Its opening explains that most of the chapters were first published under the heading “Auto‑genetic Poisons in the Intestinal Canal and their Auto‑infection,” and that the author has retained much of the original repetition because each topic, constipation, diarrhea, biliousness, indigestion, proctitis, and related disorders, appears in several contexts. The book proceeds as a systematic exploration of intestinal disease, beginning with a philosophical preface on the dangers of retained waste, then moving through detailed discussions of anatomy, digestion, the causes of constipation, and the myriad remedies and dietary regimens the author proposes. The table of contents lists thirty‑one numbered chapters, each devoted to a specific facet of bowel health, from the physics of digestion to the proper use of enemas and the selection of food.

The author writes in a didactic, almost sermon‑like voice, blending clinical observation with moral exhortation. The style is dense, heavily rhetorical, and reflective of late‑Victorian medical literature, complete with long sentences, extensive digressions, and a belief in the physician’s role as a moral guide. Readers who appreciate historical medical writing, the evolution of gastroenterology, or the period’s blend of scientific detail and moralizing will find this volume engaging. It is especially suited to scholars of medical history, collectors of antiquarian health texts, and anyone curious about how early specialists framed the relationship between diet, hygiene, and intestinal disease.

Opening lines

The following chapters were contributions to _Health_--a monthly magazine published in New York City. Certain peculiarities of form and considerable repetition of statement--both of which the reader cannot fail to notice--are owing to the fact that about two-thirds of the chapters were written under the caption "Auto-genetic Poisons in the Intestinal Canal and their Auto-infection." In revising these contributions for book form I have given to each chapter a caption of its leading thought; but I am convinced that repetition of some of the matters treated, especially if the repetition be in a somewhat different connection, is not such a very bad thing. …

Keep reading free · chapter 1 needs no account