CONSTIPATION. 20r 



According to Hahnemann's principle of treatment, as based 

 upon his method of drug selection, purging for constipation is the 

 very antithesis, and after a fair experience we can cordiall}^ 

 endorse all that true and faithful homceopathists aver as to the 

 needlessness of purgation ; nay, more, we have no hesitation in 

 condemning the practice as positively harmful to the well-being of 

 the animal system; it is quite possible that in some cases, where 

 constipation is a prominent symptom, that the liver of the patient 

 is disordered, and that the normal quantity of bile is not secretetl; 

 or, on the other hand, the organ may be abnormally active and 

 secrete more bile than is necessary for the due performance of the 

 function of digestion; whereas Aloes is a more than useful remed}' 

 by reason of its direct action upon the liver, it is quite possible 

 that much benefit may have appeared to follow the administration 

 of an ordinary allopathic dose of Aloes to a horse; under such cir- 

 cumstances the same amount of good would have followed the ad- 

 ministration of a small dose of Aloes, such as we should ourselves 

 give, without the undesirable effects brought about by a large 

 purgative dose of the drug; but in the face of the good results ob- 

 tained the allopath is quite content and never gives a moment's 

 consideration to the consequences of heavy dosage, nor to the pos- 

 sibility of obtaining the desired result on any lines other than those 

 which produce a regular clearance out; the really proper treat- 

 ment for constipation is a remedy that is capable, in the healthy 

 subject, of producing constipation, together with all the other 

 observable symptoms; in point of fact, rather than give Aloes to a 

 horse for constipation we administer it for the opposite, as found 

 among some of the varied forms of diarrhoea, and specially when 

 the rectum is swollen and haemorrhoids or piles are present. Con- 

 stipation is by no means a single-handed condition, other sjmip- 

 toms almost invariably accompany it, and this fact alone renders 

 it all the more easy to grapple with and overcome without going 

 to useless and injurious extremes, if the practitioner only has the 

 powers of observation well developed and some practical acquaint- 

 ance with the pathogenetic powers of drugs, so as to apply them 

 according to the rules of Homoeopathy; readers of this wot k will 

 find all the necessar}^ information under the various remedies here- 

 inafter referred to, and from the distinctive details given there- 

 under will be able to note not only how to overcome the diflScul- 



