The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-07-27
The Liver.

pounds, measuring about twelve inches.
Its size and its position indicate its i'm
portance, its office being mainly to aid
in the publication of the body, carry
ing off part of the waste matter from
the veins, the bile, to some extent, be-
ing the waste of the nerves and brains
Its mission seems to be twO-fold: free
ing the system of its different forms OF
impurity, and aiding in the regulation
of the bowels. The particularly i'm
pure portion of the blood, in its return
to the heart and lungs for publication.
bringing the refuse, WORKOUT and
poisonous parts of the ever-decaying
body, passes through this organ for a
kind of filtration, to guard the very inn.
portant heart and lungs from special
contamination.
This poisonous waste is what is
known as "bile," which does not be-
long in the stomach, but often reaches
it by the reversed action of that organ,
as in vomiting, if not attracted there
by the presence of greasy matters,
which it saponifies, or as some one has
expressed it, making a soap-tub of
the stomach" That it was intended
principally for the bowels, natures
cathartic, " regulating them sufficiently,
when the conditions are favorable, is
manifest from the direction of the tube
leading it into the large bowel, this
pointing on, downward, and not toe
ward the stomach. 1t is also dem
onstrated by the fact that the bowels
are inactive, constipated, when the
liver fails to secrete this bile, when
torpid, the same being proved by still
other facts. 1t not only acts as a
grand purifier, secreting waste matter
that might otherwise contaminate the
whole system, passing it through the
most direct channels, but it aids in SO
keeping the bowels in action that they
may pass off their contents, matter
of vast Importance in preserving the
integrity and impurity of the body. II
is one of the most important organs oil
the body-if any one can be regarded
as unimportant-while it receives more
censure than any other, perhaps.
Ii one is glutton, gorgiug his stom.
ach with all sorts of crude and indi-
gestible food, suffering the tortures OF
dyspepsia, he is tempted to make
''scaps-goat" of his liver, attributing
all of his ills to 'biliousness," as il
that was an accidental affair, wholly
beyond his control, for which he is in
no way responsible. If one uses the
"vile weed,' prodigally wasting his
saliva, SO corrupting the digestive sol.
vents that natural digestion is impos-
sible, entailing untold misery upon
himself, he relieves his conscience by
that he has inherited ''bil-
ious tendency" from some far-of an
cestry, coming all of the way down
from the patriarchs, it may be, render
ing life but little less than q burden to
him, the whole matter, as he supposes,
being beyond his control. Or he may
be addicted to the use of ardent spirits
thus importing his digestion, corrupt
ing his blood, rr1pturing the corpuscles
and rendering them nearly useless, in
flaming and 'enlarging the liver, so that
it is impossible for it to perform its
functions properly, charging all to the
depravity of his liver, which has en-
tailed on him, in spite of all his efforts
to prevent the calamity, a world of suf-
fering. Sometimes, it may be, he re- ;;
grets that he ever had such refractoS
organ, never thinking that any act 81
his has had any connection with mis-
Iutferings. To his mind, there is a
strange fatality connected with the in |
iuence of this cratic, knavish liver
upon his health, which he is powerless
20 control, when, in fact, all of its dis
Eases, all of its debility, all of its alb
conditions are referable to his
,wn acts! just to the extent that he |
reats IL well, it will serve him faith /
Rule.