The History Of Bowel Wisdom

Colon Hydrotherapy, in various forms, has been practiced for many hundreds of years. The colon refers to the large intestine. Hydro means "water". Hydrotherapy is the therapeutic use of water. Colon Hydrotherapy uses water to gently rinse away toxic waste from the colon.

Dating back to ancient times, the description of enemas was recorded as early as 1500 BC in an Egyptian medical document called the "Eber Papyrus". There are numerous reports of the frequent use of the enemas by the Egyptians, with all of them referencing this notable papyrus. This document was obtained in 1873 by Georg Ebers, dates from XVIIIth Dynasty and is stored in the Royal Museum of Berlin .

Water cleansing of the colon is also mentioned in the writings of the ancient Sumerians, Chinese, Hindus, Greeks and Romans.

The Greek physicians, Hippocrates and Galen, advanced the use of enema therapy. Early enema treatments were administered in a river by using a hollow reed to induce water to flow into the rectum. Pare in 1600 A.D., offered the first distinction between colon hydrotherapy and the popular enema therapy of that age.

In early America, enemas were commonly used to help maintain health and stave off disease. Before the departure of the Lewis and Clarke expedition, a physician instructed them in the appropriateness of using enemas in cases of fever and illness. Many of us remember that our grandparents and great-grandparents grew up with the use of enemas as a widely accepted procedure for reversing the onset of illness.

In the early 1900's colon hydrotherapy gained the attention of such physicians as James A. Wiltsie, M.D., Joseph E.G. Waddington, M.D. and Dr. John H. Kellogg, M.D.

Dr. Joseph E.G. Waddington stated; “Abnormal functioning of the intestinal canal is the precursor of much ill health, especially of chronic disease condition. Restoration of physiologic intestinal elimination is often the first, but too often ignored, important preliminary to eventual restoration of the health in general”.

Dr. James A. Wiltsie contends that “our knowledge of the normal and abnormal physiology of the colon, and of its pathology and management, has not kept pace with that of many organs and systems of the body. As long as we continue to assume that the colon will care of itself, just that long will we remain in complete ignorance of perhaps the most important source of ill health in the whole body.”

John H. Kellogg, M.D. in Battle Creek, Michigan used colon hydrotherapy extensively on over forty thousand patients. In 1917 he reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that in all but 20 cases -- he used no surgery for the treatment of gastrointestinal disease in his patients.

"In times past, knowledge of the bowel was more widespread and people were taught how to care for the bowel. Somehow, bowel wisdom got lost and it became something that no one wanted to talk about anymore." Bernard Jensen, D.C.

The popularity of colon hydrotherapy reached a height in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. At that time, colon irrigation machines were regularly used in hospitals and doctor's offices. In the ensuing 50 to 60 years, the use of this valuable health treatment decreased. The current lack of knowledge regarding colon cleansing, together with the widely held belief by conventional medicine that such treatments are no longer useful, may be the single most important factor in the increasing ill-health of our population.

The popular return to using colon hydrotherapy has been bolstered by the development of sophisticated colon hydrotherapy instruments and techniques, which make these therapies both safe and convenient.

See Oasis Colonics for more information about colon hydrotherapy in and around Portland, Oregon.