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THE CUSTOMARY EVACUATIONS.

CHAPTER XI.

OF THE CUSTOMARY EVACUATIONS.

The principal evacuations from the human body are thoseof stool, urine, and insensible perspiration. None of thesecan be long obstructed without impairing the health. Whenthat which ought to be thrown out of the body is too long re-tained, it not only occasions a plethora, or too great fulnessof the vessels, but acquires qualities which are hurtful to thehealth, as acrimony, putrescence, &c.

EVACUATION BY STOOL.

Few things conduce more to health than keeping the bellyregular. When Uve faces lie too long in the body they vitiatethe humors, and when they are too soon discharged it is notsufficiently nourished. A medium is therefore to be desired ;which can only be obtained by regularity in diet, sleep, andexercise. Whenever the belly is not regular, there is reasonto suspect a fault in one or other of these.

Persons who eat and drink at irregular hours, and who eatvarious kinds of food, and drink of several different liquorsat every meal, have no reason to expect either that their di-gestion will be good or their discharges regular. Irregularityin eating and drinking disturbs every part of the animaleconomy, and never fails to occasion diseases. Either toomuch or too little food will have this effect. The former in-deed generally occasions looseness, and the latter costiveness ;but both have a tendency to hurt the health.

It would be difficult to ascertain the exact number of stoolswhich may be consistent with health, as these differ in thedifferent periods of life, in different constitutions, and evenin the same constitution under a different regimen of diet,exercise, &c. It is however generally allowed that one stoola day is sufficient for an adult, and that less is hurtful. Butthis, like most general rules, admits of many exceptions. Ihave known persons in perfect health who did not go to stoolabove once a week. Such a degree of costiveness howeveris not safe ; though the person who labors under it may forsome time enjoy tolerable health, yet at length it will occa-sion diseases.

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