THE REMEDIES OF NATURE. 205 



coffee. If the man of sessions stoops, he damages his lungs ; if he 

 leans against the edge of the table, he may endanger his stomach ; but, 

 as sure as he sits, he compresses the region of the vena portce. Ob- 

 structions of that vein are favored by two circumstances : it has to pass 

 a double system of capillaries, and, before it can reach the liver, it has 

 to pump its heavy blood upward. Sooner or later the incessant press- 

 ure results in varicose enlargements, actual obstruction occurs, the 

 vein-bags become engorged and at last inflamed, and their rupture dis- 

 charges the blood, which mingles with the secretions of the rectum, and 

 causes that incessant pricking and burning that make haemorrhoids 

 (emerods, piles) as troublesome as a combination of itch and gout. 

 An astringent diet aggravates the evil by inspissating the blood and 

 retarding the process of circulation. The stricken Philistines ob- 

 tained relief by sacrificing golden facsimiles of the afflicted parts, 

 and cauterizations temporarily free the obstructed passages; but the 

 days of miracles are past, and, as long as the cause continues to operate, 

 it would not avail the patient to sacrifice his entire stock of emerods. 

 Inunctions of warm tallow will palliate the itch. Common mutton- 

 tallow serves that purpose as well as any patent ointment, for itch and 

 its cognate complaints are not amenable to the influence of the faith- 

 cure. The radical remedies are gymnastics and an aperient diet. The 

 gymnastic specifics are the exercises that promote deep and full respira- 

 tion, and at the same time react on the abdominal cavity, as spear- 

 throwing, swinging by the arms, and dumb-bell practice. The diet 

 should be digestible, and as fluid as possible ; while exercise stimulates 

 the circulation, the diluents will attenuate the blood, and thus obviate 

 the proximate cause of the disorder. If the patient has to stick to 

 his office, he should procure a combination-desk (which any carpenter 

 can construct without infringement of patents), and stand and sit by 

 turns. 



The ancients kept slaves who had to work all day, sitting before a 

 primitive grist-mill, and it is possible that haemorrhoids are really a 

 very antique complaint. But during the age of gymnastics and unfre- 

 quent meals it is not probable that people suffered much from maw- 

 worms. Parasites are marvelous colonizers. Wherever the ground is 

 prepared for their reception, the seed is sure to make its appearance. 

 There are about sixty different kinds of mildew, a special variety for 

 nearly eyery special kind of fruit or vegetable ; and, if a decaying 

 berry of the rarest sort is exposed to the open air, it will soon be cov- 

 ered with its specific kind of mold. A piece of putrid flesh will attract 

 blow-flies, even where flies of that sort have never been seen before. 

 The germs of numberless parasites fill the air, and each species, after 

 its kind, will promptly fasten upon every sort of decaying or stagnant 

 organic matter, even in the interior of the body. But in the living 

 organism of the human system such stagnations are wholly abnormal. 

 In the economy of the digestive organs peptic disintegration should 



