PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 



Six years have elapsed since this little work was first 

 published, and the passage of time has renderad necessary 

 a few alterations and additions. The task of penning 

 these has been a pleasant one, for the fact that after the 

 exhaustion of the first edition, and a second large reprint 

 of it, a second edition should be called for is gratifying 

 proof that the book has supplied a need and served some 

 useful purpose. It now only remains for me to mention 

 anything of importance concerning the reception of the 

 first edition that would interest the reader of the second, 

 and to record here the alterations that have been made. 



In the reception accorded the first, the most pleasing 

 feature to me was the number of unsolicited letters it 

 brought me from practitioners, both English and 

 American, concerning what I have now come to call the 

 ' stimulant ' treatment of intestinal impaction. Many 

 who have, in the phrase of one of them, ^ put their sedatives 

 on the shelf^^ have written in terms expressive of their 

 delight with the change, and assuring me that, if I 

 needed confirmation of the correctness of the treatment, 

 their own experience would give it. Although pleasing 

 to me, I merely mention this fact here in order that the 

 reader, should he contemplate a change which at first 

 sight may appear to him startling, may be assured that, 

 concerning its wisdom, he has not to rely on my word 



