Such numerous pathological conditions have led the author to conclude that an abscess just under the skin and the discharge of pus are merely incidents in the history of such maladies. Think of it: your body may be bored with channels or holes of varying diameters and lengths, while you yourself may be ignorant of what is occurring! The mucous membrane may be lifted from the connective tissue for the whole length of the rectum, and the skin about the anus may also be in this condition. You know that your health is not good, but you are ignorant of the cause. The formation of pus at some period of the channel’s inroads, or of an abscess, would seem a kindly act of Nature, for the presence of so serious a disturber to health would thus become known. I have not overdrawn this picture of periproctitis and of submucous tissue channels. The victims could scarcely be worse off than they are. I want boys and girls, young men and young women, to learn the facts concerning the local dangers of proctitis; for, when they once realize the seriousness of this disease because of its many grave symptoms, they will give it proper attention before these effects manifest themselves. You cannot neglect so important a portion of your body as the anus and rectum and not seriously endanger the organs that lie close to them. No wonder so many men are troubled with inflammation and induration of the prostate gland. The percentage of such cases would be greatly reduced were proctitis and periproctitis denied the existence they now enjoy for years, and often for a lifetime. In view of all that has been advanced concerning these local pathological conditions, is it strange that almost everybody is constipated, and that we need some simple sovereign aid to further the scientific treatment of the physician--an aid such as the enema has proved to be? CHAPTER IV. UNDUE RETENTION OF GAS AND FECES IN THE SIGMOID FLEXURE. In the previous chapters attention was called especially to the lower portion of the rectum and the anus. In this chapter we will consider the sigmoid flexure, which, when diseased, is often dilated, dislocated, and depressed, a pathological condition somewhat similar to that found in the lower portion of the rectum and the anus. The illustration on page 29 shows the normal relations of the rectum and the sigmoid flexure; also the whole colon. 7 marks the beginning of the sigmoid flexure, and 6 its upper end. The reader will note the four sharp curves or flexures of this organ,--from 6 to 7,--which forms in health a normal and most convenient receptacle for feces, and which, like the bladder, can be emptied at regular intervals. Unless the system were able in some way to eliminate the waste and poisonous matter it had generated within six hours, it would fatally poison itself.