purgation

Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and bowel examinations. They are sometimes supplemented by enemas. Often, taking powerful laxatives can cause diarrhea, accompanied by massive flatulence attacks, due to the overworking of the bowels. Some people who experienced these side effects produced more than three times the average daily amount of flatulence in just one bowel release. Laxatives are often abused by people with eating disorders. Laxative abuse is potentially serious since it can lead to intestinal paralysis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), pancreatitis, renal failure, and other problems.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

n. purgation, purging, cleansing

(n.)
The clearing of one's self from a crime of which one was publicly suspected and accused. It was either canonical, which was prescribed by the canon law, the form whereof used in the spiritual court was, that the person suspected take his oath that he was clear of the matter objected against him, and bring his honest neighbors with him to make oath that they believes he swore truly; or vulgar, which was by fire or water ordeal, or by combat. See Ordeal.
  

(n.)
The act of purging; the act of clearing, cleansing, or putifying, by separating and carrying off impurities, or whatever is superfluous; the evacuation of the bowels.
  

PURGATION, PURGE - The clearing one's self of an offence charged, by denying the guilt on oath or affirmation.

There were two sorts of purgation, the vulgar, and the canonical.

Vulgar purgation consisted in superstitious trials by hot and cold water, by fire, by hot irons, by batell, by corsned, etc., which modes of trial were adopted in times of ignorance and barbarity, and were impiously called judgments of God.

Canonical purgation was the act of justifying one's self, when accused of some offence in the presence of a number of persons, worthy of credit, gen-erally twelve, who would swear they believed the accused.

In modern times, a man may purge himself of an offence, in some cases where the facts are within his own knowledge; for example, when a man is charged with a contempt of court he may purge himself of such contempt by swearing that in doing the act charged he did not intend to commit a contempt.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.