LACK OF BULK IN THE FOOD TAKEN.--Sometimes the character of the food taken is such that there is no body to it. The process of digestion so completely liquefies it that the bowel has no solid matter to manipulate. To excite the peculiar movements of the intestinal wall there must be substance in the contents. The variety of the daily food must be so arranged as to provide this. A list of these foods is provided elsewhere in this book. Certain other foods stimulate intestinal activity, not because of their bulk, but because of the chemical elements they contain. All forms of sugar, the sugars of fruits, the acids of fruits and vegetables, are excellent natural laxatives. Sour milk and buttermilk, oils and fats, are also of distinct value in this respect. On the other hand, soups, gruels, porridges, and purees are constipating because the digestive process reduces them to liquids and leaves no bulk for the bowel to act upon. New bread, hot biscuits, "noodles," and doughy foods are also objectionable, especially to children. Hot baths, hot drinks, hot enemas, and sweating are also constipating because they extract so much liquid from the bowel leaving the contents excessively dry. ABUSE OF CATHARTIC DRUGS AND APERIENT WATERS.--This is a widespread evil; it may justly be regarded as a national curse. The victims of this custom do not realize that they are addicted to a habit which must be rightly regarded as equally as bad as the drink habit, so far as its ultimate effect on the general health and the prospect of longevity is concerned. Its popularity is a product of our national vice of indiscriminate eating and drinking. It is more common among the class who live in restaurants, hotels, and boarding houses, who keep late hours, eat late suppers and who do not exercise enough. These individuals eat too much and live too high. After a time the liver becomes sluggish, the stomach fails to digest properly, the bowels lose their tone, and flatulent indigestion or some other more or less serious condition follows; to maintain the pace, to feel and keep fit, they discover that a glass of some advertised aperient or laxative water before breakfast works wonders, tides them over for the time being and keeps them "in the ring." They compliment themselves and push the specter of age aside.