The organs are held in position by a ligamentous attachment and abundant fatty tissue, which serve as a connective cushion that furnishes aid in supporting the organs in their proper place. In chronic cases of self-poisoning, the victim, as a rule, becomes anemic and emaciated, and loses thereby the fatty support required by the organs. They are consequently apt to become displaced and the muscular tissue weakened, with the consequent pendulous condition of the abdomen often observed in both children and adults. The clay-colored, flabby, obese, anemic victims may retain their worthless adipose tissue; but they suffer quite as keenly as if they had lost it--from the fact that this tissue is impregnated with poison and filled with gas, and from the further fact that this abnormal tissue presses on the vital organs here and there as the victim wheezes or puffs along on his road through existence. There is not the slightest doubt that nine-tenths of gastro-intestinal ills and their effects can be prevented or cured by thorough irrigation of the canal, from mouth to anus, if it does not itself perform the cleansing process three times in twenty-four hours. CHAPTER VIII. METHODS OF STOMACH CLEANSING. Lavage is a term restricted to irrigation of the stomach--a term that has become more or less popular of late with physicians, but is not so popular with those who have to swallow a rubber stomach tube, or with the anxious mother or friends who are usually not permitted to be present on such occasions because of the disturbed and cyanotic appearance of the patient--an appearance produced by the introduction of the catheter. Much can be said, however, of the good results following irrigation of the stomach by the employment of the stomach rubber tube, and in a special class of cases its use is imperative. But my purpose in this chapter is to advocate the drinking of water as the means _par excellence_ for effective irrigation of the assimilative and eliminative organs, and to make it plain that this form of irrigation is essential for the preservation of health and the relief and cure of chronic inactivity of the principal organs of the system. Usually the drinking of water at regular intervals is sufficient; but in exceptional cases a generous drinking will result in a complete unloading, which can be accomplished with ease and with little loss of time. Should your stomach be actually performing its office, the suggestions I am about to give will, if followed, keep it sweet, clean, and in good condition, and will also flush all the tissues of the body as well.