It follows, therefore, that we must maintain the intestine in the best possible condition, and avoid constipation and stagnation of fæcal matters, with the augmentation of toxic products. That constipation is very deleterious to the liver can be best shown by the fact that very often affections of the liver and bile-ducts,—and especially gall-stone disease,—are developed in persons suffering from habitual constipation. The best treatment for these liver affections is a purging treatment, and it is mainly on account of their action in this manner that certain alkaline mineral waters have attained so great a fame; in addition, due to increased peristalsis, the circulation of the bile is enhanced. Proper movements of the bowel are indispensable to a sound condition of the liver and for the prevention of hepatic disease, and we, therefore, refer the reader to the chapter that deals in detail with the prevention and treatment of constipation. Not only the intestine, but the stomach also, must be in good condition. It has been noted by Bouchard and Hanot that chronic gastric and intestinal troubles are apt to cause enlargement of the liver. Bouchard has found an enlarged liver in 23 per cent. of his cases of dilatation of the stomach. Hanot and Boit[187] have shown experimentally that the different acids formed in the gastro-intestinal tract are able to produce a genuine cirrhosis of the liver. Therefore acid fermentation must be carefully avoided; and to prevent such fermentation in some degree in the stomach and in the intestine, it is necessary to masticate the food thoroughly, as will be shown. Footnote 187: Hanot and Boit: Congresso Med. Internat. di Roma, 1894. Another very important organ, the sound condition of which is of great importance to the liver, is the pancreas. It has been found by several authors, particularly by Steinhaus,[188] in his investigation of some 40 cases of hepatic cirrhosis, that the pancreas is also affected in each case of this type; and we further know that after disease of the pancreas, as in diabetes, for example, the liver is also, as a rule, altered. Thus these two organs are in close relationship. Footnote 188: Steinhaus: Deutsches Archiv für klin. Medicin, 1902.