River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-10-28

easily break dc2rHg lou are conducting Scisn-
tic paper, and are unPrejudlced srcspt in Javor
Of TRUTH. n is nCediess 10 say, no medical
Journal Of 'codsn standing tsould admit these
facts, for Uery oboious reasons.
H. Fl. WARNER a. CO.,
PropristOrs or :. Warmers safe Cure. I"
That we may emphasize and clearly
explain the relation the kidneys sustain
to the general health, and how much is
dependent upon them, we propose,
metaphorically speaking, to take one
from the human body, place in the
wash-bowl before us, and examine it
for the public benefit.
You will imagine that we have be-
fore us body shaped like bean,
smooth and glistening, about four
inches in length, two in width, and one
in thickness. 1t ordinarily weighs in
the adult male, about five ounces, but
is somewhat lighter in the female. A
small organp you say. But under
stand, the body of the average size
man contains about ten quarts Of blood.
Of achich eUery drop passes through
these filters or SeJCerS, as they may be
called, nldny times dag. as often as
through the heart, making a complete
revolution in three minutes. From the
blood they separate the waste material,
working away steadily night and day.
sleeping or waking, tireles7 as the
heart itself, and fully of as much vital
Importance; removing impurities from
sixty-five gallons of blood each hour, or
about forty-nine barrels each day, or
9,125 hogshead year! What a wonder
that the kidneys can last any length of
time under this prodigious strain,
treated and neglected as they are?
We slice this delicate organ open
lengthwise with our knife, and will
roughly describe its interior.
We fiDd it TO be of a reddish-brown
color, soft and easily torn; filled with
hundreds of little tubes, short and
thread like, starting from the arteries,
ending in a little tuft about midway
from the outside opening into a cavity
of considerable size, which is called the
pelvis or, roughly speaking, sac,
which is for the purpose of holding the
water to further undergo purlncation
before it passes down from here into
the ureiers, and so on to the outside of
the body. These little tubes are the
filters which do their work automat.
ically. and right here is tohere the dds
ease Of the kidney FIRST begins.
Doing the vast amount of work
which they are obliged to, from the
slightest irregularity in our habits, from
cold, from high living, from stimulants
or thousand and one other causes
which occGr every day, they become
somewhat weakened in their nerve
force.
What is the result? Congestion or
stoppage of the current of blood in the
small blood vessels surrounding them,
which become blocked; these delicate
membranes are irritated; Inflammation
is set up, then pus is formed, which col
lects in the pelvis or sac; the tubes are
at first partially, and soon are totally.
unable to do their work. The pelvic
sac goes on distending with this
corruption, pressing upon the blood
vessels. All this time, remember, the
blood, which is entering the kidneys to
be filtered, is passing through this terri
bic. disgusting puS, for it cannot take
any other routel
Stop and think of it for a moment.
Do you realize the Importance, nay the
vital necessity, of having the kidneys
in order2 Can you expect when they
are diseased or obstructed. no matter
how little, that you can have pure blood
and escape dtSedSe2 1t would be just
as reasonable to expect, if pest-house
were set across Broadway and count
less thousands were compelled to 90
through its pestilential doors, an es-
cape from contagion and disease, as for
one to expect the blood to escape pol
luton when constantly running
through a diseased kidney.
Now, what is the result? Why, that
the blood takes up and deposits this
poison as it sweeps along into every
organ. into every muscle, tissue, flesh
and bone. from your head to your
feet And whenever. from heredi-
tary influence or otherwise, some
part Of the body is weaker than anoth-
err. a countless train of diseases is es-
tablished, such as consumption in weak
lungs, dyspepsia, where there is a deli
cate stomach; nervousness, insanity,
paralysis OF heart disease in those who
have weak nerves.
The heart must soon feel The fleets Of
the poison. as u requires pure blood to
Keep AZ IN right action. Ii increases its
stroke in number and force to compen-
safe for the natural stimulus wanting,
in its endeavor to crowd the impure
blood through this obstruction, caus-
ing pain, palpitation, or an ou:-of-
breath feelir =. Unnatural as this forced
labor is, the heart must soon falter, be-
coming weak n and weaker until one
day it Suddenly stops, and death from
apparent heart disease" is the YER
diet.
But the medical profession, learned
and digniiied, call these diseases by
high sounding names, treat them alone,
and patients die for the arteries are
earning SloW death 10 the affected part,
constantly adding fuel brought from
these suppurating, pus- laden kidneys
which here in our wash-bowl ara very
putIefaction itself, and which should
have been cured first.
But this is not all the kidneys have
to do; for you must repember that each
adult takes about seven pounds OF
nourishment every twenty-four hours
to supply the waste of the body which
is constantly going on, waste equal
to the quantity taken. This, too, the
kidneys have to separate from the
blood with all other decomposing mat
ter
But you say. "My kidneys are all
right. | have no pain in the back. >
Mistaken mani People die of kidney
disease of so bad a character that the
organs are rotten. and yet they have
nerer there had q pain nor an ache!
Why? Because the disease begins,
as we have shown, in the interior OF
the kidney, where there are tcio nerUes
Of feeling to convey the sensation of
pain. Why this is so we may never
know.
When you consider their great work,
the delicacy of their structure, the ease
with which they are deranged, can you
wonder at the ilI-health of our men and
womenP Health and long life can
not be expected when so vital
an organ is impaired. No
wonder some writers say we are de-
generating. Don't you see the great,
the extreme importance of keeping this
machinery in working order? Could
the finest engine do even a fractional
part of this work, without attention from
the engineer? Don't you see how