‘Cures’ of the past; implications for the present
In the early part of the 20th century an entrepreneur name Charles A. Tyrrell developed and promoted an enema device called the J.B. L. Cascade (the J.B.L. stood for Joy, Beauty and Life). Mr. Tyrrell (later Dr. Tyrrell; he got a medical degree at age 57) found a ready market for his device – at that time a canvas-covered, rubberized-bag – because of the misbegotten doctrine of autointoxication that was prevalent during the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries.
During those years many health practitioners believed that the contents of the colon were highly toxic and could seep through the wall of the colon and cause self-poisoning or autointoxication. It’s kind of easy to see how this notion would arise since the contents of the colon are malodorous and not particularly attractive. No one with a properly functioning brain would want his/her colon contents running wild throughout the body. And the idea that many reasonable people held at that time was that constipation or even mild constipation allowed the ‘putrifying’ feces within the colon (and even the contents of the small intestine) to make its way from the colon into the blood and thence throughout the body.
I’ve read the book in manuscript form when it was 800 plus pages, again when it was cut down to 700 or so pages, and now I’m going through it again at its new, svelte 600 or so pages. It is a remarkable book, and one that, I believe, will initiate a sea change in the way everyone looks at nutrition. Unless I miss my guess, Taubes will be on every talk show known to man, and his book will be reviewed everywhere, and talked about by everyone. Just think of the satisfaction you will have (those of you who are long-term low-carbers) in just a couple of months when you can go around with big smiles on your faces telling everyone I told you so.
