The History of Colon Therapy
It’s America, and people don't like talking about their bowels. Yet the bowels are part of the physiological system of elimination in our body. History bears out the innate wisdom of humans as far back as we have written or pictorial history.
The history of Colon Therapy is known as far back in history as the ancient Egyptians. They thought that toxins formed in the body because of the decomposition of food products in the intestines. Once the intestines became clogged, the normal processes of elimination within the intestines would then form a feedback loop within the body. That loop would affect the liver and gallbladder next. With the liver and gallbladder gradually losing effectiveness in ridding waste from the circulatory system, chronic conditions would develop and worsen. When enough chronic conditions merge, major organ failure follows.
The Egyptians used a hollow reed to induce water flow into the rectum. This was described in the 'Ebers Papyrus', an ancient Egyptian document. The ancient Greeks also developed methods for colon cleansing.
A theory widely accepted in the 19th century was that bacteria in the colon could be cleansed removing toxins.
In 1908 the Nobel Prize for immunity research found that disease follows the buildup of toxins in the body and that intestinal toxins actually shorten a person's life. Creating a balance within the colon allowed the positive bacteria to flourish returning well-being to the person.
In 1929 Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane attributed toxins within the colon to the cause of all disease. Lane also noted that all cancers he observed were preceded by prolonged intestinal stasis.
There was a time in the United States that colonic machines were common in doctor offices and hospitals. This was during the 1920's and 1930's.
John H Kellogg MD, the founder of kellogg's Cereals, had over 40,000 gastrointestinal patients and only used surgery in 20 of those cases. He used colon therapy and healthy foods to detoxify the bowels. As Dr. J.H. Kellogg said, “We are literally poisoning ourselves into illness when the bowel evacuation is deficient,” as reported in Journal of the American Medical Association, 1917.
"Colon hydrotherapy eliminates from the bowel the accumulated waste material which may get absorbed. If this absorption takes place, it overwhelms the other purification organs such as the liver, the kidneys, the skin, and the lungs. The toxin deposition which becomes lodged throughout the body's tissues and cells becomes capable of triggering a variety of illnesses." Dr. Arthur E. Brawer, Rheumatologist
And perhaps a close to this short history should be with a quote by a Doctor who practiced in the early 20th century. "our knowledge of the normal and abnormal physiology of the colon and its pathology and management has not kept pace with that of many organ systems of the body. As long as we continue to assume the colon will take care of itself, it's just that long that we will remain in complete ignorance of perhaps the most important source of ill health in the whole body". Dr Wiltsie Things have not changed much in the last hundred years as people are still unaware of the importance of colon cleanliness and the immediate connection to health and wellbeing.
