If one then who is annoyed by a tendency to constipation wishes to correct it, a rational change of diet would be, _to eat freely of cereals and coarse breads and of various fruits, particularly apples, figs and prunes_. The most effective way to use these laxative fruits is to eat freely of them just before retiring. The apples and figs may be eaten just as they are received from the market. Prunes may be soaked in cold water for twenty-four hours, then taken directly from the cold water and eaten. If this is not effective a supplementary regime may be adopted that is only in part dietetic, i.e., _to rise_ ONE HOUR BEFORE BREAKFAST, _drink two glasses of cold water and take a brisk walk of fifteen to thirty minutes_. The cold water has a tonic effect upon the stomach, preparing it for a rapid digestion of the breakfast. It also washes out the accumulation of mucus in the stomach, which may easily equal a pint in volume. This pint of mucous plus the pint of water, making a quart of liquid altogether, pours through the pylorus, and during the rapid walk, works its way rapidly down through the alimentary tract, washing the whole tract and preparing it to receive and rapidly to digest the next meal. This slimy water, having washed out the stomach and small intestine, then passes into the large intestine, moistening and lubricating its contents and causing it to move gradually towards the rectum, where it stimulates a normal free passage of the bowels after breakfast. Any usual case of constipation will yield to this treatment. Such a treatment is incomparably more rational than the taking of medicines.