If it cannot be cured without operation, it cannot be cured. With few exceptions bowel obstruction arises from hysteria, panic, intense jitters. Certainly a diseased organ may be cut away, and a frightened and crumpled up section of the bowel may be cut away, but genuine cure calls for restoration of normal function. Once an organ or part is extirpated it cannot ever be normal again; if it cannot be repaired from within, it cannot be cured.

In the case of obstruction which arises from a tumour pressing on the bowel, the tumour is the problem. In the more common spastic form, apply warmth and talk soothingly to the patient until he returns to a calm frame of mind, and the tension and the obstruction pass away together. The basic pain was holding up the tiny impulses which move the waste matter along the intestine. The muscular rings which do this work become rigid with fear.

The worst possible treatment that can be applied at this stage, when the pain may be overpowering, is by the doctor or surgeon who palpates the painful part and then merely gives a negative shake of the head. The best procedure in such a case is to cut out the practitioner.