It is unfortunate that the perpetuation of early ignorant abuses of Nature's pure intentions has led to a too prudish attitude toward the one infallible evidence of health conditions as shown by the refuse of repair and digestion, as it is only by the excreta that ultimate indication of the results of nutrition are observable. They are the reliable report relative to the most important thing in health—digestion—and they must be understood in order to be read.

There is no knowledge so valuable in its relation to health as that which enables one to read health bulletins by means of the excreta.

Different foods contain different elements of waste material and to be able to identify or judge the economic value of food previously consumed a knowledge of its digestion-ash is essential.

A child should be taught the difference between healthy and unhealthy excreta in order to be on guard at the first warning of disorder, rather than be allowed to remain ignorant until disease has taken firm hold of the system. The knowledge is not complicated and can be easily acquired by even young children.

When the possibility of perfect protection in the matter of nutrition is generally known, one mission of the physician will be to teach prevention of abuses of feeding by evidence of the excreta.

The healthy fÆces of many wild animals is comparatively dry, odourless and cleanly; and a farm barn yard or a decently kept city stable is not an offence to even prudish prejudice.

Not so the vicinage of an open receptacle for the waste of human indigestion.

In animals, offensive egesta are evidence of digestive disturbance owing to some unintelligent feeding on the part of attendants; in humans the cause and effect of offensive excreta are the same.

When a race-or work-animal shows digestive disturbance the least intelligent owner or keeper knows that it is not fit for work or racing, and yet this symbol of unfitness is common to the human race.

One of the most noticeable and significant results of economic nutrition gained through careful attention to the mouth-treatment of food, or buccal-digestion, is, not only the small quantity of waste obtained but its inoffensiveness. Under best test-conditions the ashes of economic digestion have been reduced to one-tenth of the average given as normal in the latest text-books on Physiology. The economic digestion-ash forms in pillular shape and when released these are massed together, having become so bunched by considerable retention in the rectum. There is no stench, no evidence of putrid bacterial decomposition, only the odour of warmth, like warm earth or "hot biscuit." Test samples of excreta, kept for more than five years, remain inoffensive, dry up, gradually disintegrate and are lost. The following observation by an eminent eye specialist and litterateur illustrates the opening paragraph of this chapter.

PERIODICITY

The question of "when" or "how often" the solid excreta should be voided or released is one that immediately presents itself when the subject is under discussion. The common opinion is that "once-a-day" periodicity is the proper and only healthy thing, and should a day pass there would be immediate fear of "constipation."

Under the best test conditions, before referred to, the ash accumulated in sufficient quantity to demand release only at the end of six, eight, or ten days, the longer periods of rest being the evidence of the best economic and health results.

Under ordinary conditions of carelessness and strenuous environment, say an exciting and exacting city occupation, twice a week is as often as one should accumulate a deposit of digestion-ash and feel sure that the strain on the system is not excessive and dangerous. Young people seem to thrive even when delivering daily a large quantity of smelly excreta; but it is an abuse of the "ten-horse reserve"[10] with which the human engine is supplied; and along in the "forties" or the "fifties" or the "sixties" the body shows signs of premature wear when it should be but in its prime.

Another important matter should be mentioned in this exchange of sanitary confidences. When the ashes of digestion are dumped the body should assume the shape of the letter Z. It is the natural position of primitive man (squatting on his heels), and the body was originally constructed on that plan. If otherwise poised (sitting erect) the delivery of digestion-ash is performed with the same difficulty as would be experienced when trying to force a semi-solid through a bent or a kinked hose.

The publication of the observation of Dr.——, here following, is a breakaway from the prudery of a diseased and disgusting age,—a protest jointly shared by the scientific observer and the voluntary test-subject, whose only aim in the pursuit of the study to "a finish" is the ultimate benefit of the human race.

SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION OF A LITERARY TEST-SUBJECT

"During his sojourn in Washington in July, 1903, I saw much of Mr.——, and in a very intimate way. The weather at that period was very hot, sometimes near 100°, and very sultry. For ten days or two weeks in the midst of this season he was busily engaged in constructive writing, turning out on an average some eight thousand words on his typewriter daily, which meant a close application for ten or fourteen hours each day. He usually began his work at from two to five o'clock in the morning, continuing often until three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when we would commonly go together to a ball game, which he enjoyed with the enthusiasm of a boy of twelve. Later in the evening he would resume his work for from one to three hours, retiring at from ten to about midnight. His food consisted of a glass of milk with a trace of coffee, and corn 'gems,' four of which he consumed in the twenty-four hours. Occasionally he would add in very hot weather a glass of lemonade. There was at no time any evidence of mental or physical fatigue. That such an amount of work, with the maintenance of perfect health, could be accomplished on such a small quantity of food can be accounted for only on the assumption of a complete assimilation of the ingested material. As the degree of combustion is indicated by the ashes left, so the completeness of digestion is to be measured by the amount and character of the intestinal excreta. A conclusive demonstration of thorough digestion in Mr. ——'s case was afforded me. There had, under the rÉgime above mentioned, been no evacuation of the bowels for eight days. At the end of this period he informed me that there were indications that the rectum was about to evacuate, though the material he was sure could not be of a large amount. Squatting upon the floor of the room, without any perceptible effort he passed into the hollow of his hand the contents of the rectum. This was done to demonstrate human normal cleanliness and inoffensiveness; neither stain nor odour remaining, either in the rectum or upon the hand.[11] The excreta were in the form of nearly round balls, varying in size from a small marble to a plum. These were greenish-brown in colour, of firm consistence, and covered over with a thin layer of mucus; but there was no more odour to it than there is to a hot biscuit.

"The whole mass weighed 56 grams. The next day there was a further deposit of the same kind of dry-waste, making 135 grams (about 4-3/4 ounces) for the nine days. It seems to me there could be no more conclusive evidence of complete digestion and assimilation than this. The existence of perfect nutrition is indicated by his ability to continue, without fatigue and under trying conditions, work which could only be accomplished in an ideal condition of health.

"Washington, D. C., July 31, 1903."