Plain Facts for Old and Young by John Harvey Kellogg

necessarily confined indoors, counteract the constipating influence of sedentary habits by kneading and percussing the bowels with the hands several minutes each day; 5. Never resist the calls of nature a single moment, if possible to avoid it. In this case, as in numerous others, "delay is dangerous." Ladies who desire a sweet breath--and what lady does not--should remember that retained feces are one of the most frequent causes of foul breath. The foul odors which ought to pass out through the bowels find their way into the blood and escape at the lungs. A medical man whose sense of smell is delicate soon learns to know a constipated person by the breath. As one says, "What is more offensive than the breath of a costive child?" Boerhaave, a famous old Dutch physician, left to his heirs an elegantly bound volume in which, he claimed, were written all the secrets of the science of physic. After his death, the wonderful book was opened, when it was found to contain only the following sentence:-- "Keep the head cool, the feet warm, and the bowels open." An old Scotch physician once gave the following advice to Sir Astley Cooper for the preservation of health:-- "Keep in the fear of the Lord, and your bowels open."