following the omission of the oil, its use is continued for two weeks longer, when it is again omitted for a night." To illustrate this point the following case is cited. "ILLUSTRATIVE CASE.--A boy three years of age had never had a bowel evacuation without drugs, soap enemas, or suppositories since birth, and finally these were no longer effective. The mother, thoroughly frightened, brought the child to me. Eight months of diet and the use of the oil were required before he was entirely well. It is now three months since the local treatment was discontinued and the bowel function remains normal. "The diet with the absence of milk must be continued for months after the patient is apparently well, and he must not be allowed to pass a single morning without an evacuation at the usual time. In assuming the management of one of these cases I explain to the mother or nurse that the treatment is not pleasant for the child or the attendant, and that it may have to be persisted in for weeks, and unless she is willing to carry it out to the end, it would better not be undertaken. I assure her, however, that with her cooeperation, which is usually readily given, the child will make a complete recovery. Cases that are slow in responding to treatment, I usually give the additional advantage of abdominal massage from twenty minutes to one-half hour, before the child is placed at stool. The massage should practiced by one skilled in the work. "The above local measures apply particularly to children after the eighteenth month. They may be used earlier, however, following out the diet along the lines laid down for bottle-fed children who suffer from constipation. In very young children a smaller amount of oil should be used, never more than two ounces, usually one ounce is all that is required. When the oil treatment is under way, whatever the age of the patient, laxative drugs should not be given." CHAPTER XXIII CONSTIPATION IN WOMEN Chief Cause of Constipation in Women--Constipation a Cause of Domestic Unhappiness--The Requirements of Good Health--The Cost of Constipation--Constipation and Social Exigencies--One of the Important Duties of Mothers--Constipation and Diseases of Women--Constipation is Always Harmful--Constipation and Pregnancy--Explanation of Incomplete Constipation--Causes of Constipation--Negligence--Lack of Exercise--Lack of Water--Lack of Bulk in the Food Taken--Abuse of Cathartic Drugs and Aperient Waters--Overeating--Treatment of Constipation in Women.