The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1928-09-20
BY DR.. ARTHUR L. FORSTER
copyright 1927. Bonnet Brown Corp.1

copyright 1921. Bonnet Brown Corp.)
THE WELL KNoWN CD LIVER
The liver is one of the vital or
gans of the body. In other words.
one could not exist without it, any
more than he could survive the loss
of his heart. No surgeon has yet
tried removal of the liver for dis
ease of the organ itself or in an eff
fort TO cure some other remote dis
ease. The liver can be operated on
and some great advances have been
made in this connection, but total
extirpation of the organ is out of
the question.
Functions of the Liver
The following list represents the
more important jobs performed by
this busy organ:
Secretion of the bile (galD includ-
ing the bile salts, bile acids, choles-
terol, and water.
Formation of urea from the pro-
TENS.
Maintenanceiof the normal level Of
the blood sugar by acting as a store
house of glycogen.
STORING of fats and assisting in
their use by organism.
Destruction of uric acid as such.
Filtering bacteria and other for
oio,, bodioc frn,,, +bn bt1oI e+,o,,o,
Rendering certain poisonous mat
tiers harmless
Assisting III the prediction of i'm
munity.
Promoting the coagulahh;ty OF the
blood.
Importance of the Liver
While nearly everybody Knows
that the liver secretes the bile, many
consider that its only function. This
is actually less important than its
task of taking from the blood and
storing away for future uses certain
subEtances and injecting into the
blood stream other substances. The
liver cells are highly specialized
chemical structures in close relation
to the blood, suspended in a support
ing meshwork of fibrous tissue. The
organ as whole is larger and weighs
more than any other in the body.
The Sluggish Liver
Much has been written, pro and
con, regarding the influence of the
liver on the balance of the organism
when it is not functioning properly.
The poor old liver is blamed for
everything from constipation Ito the
'blues." No matter what people may
be complaining of, some persons will
say, "It's your liver. Take a good
dose of something to stir up your
liver and you'll be all right" How
far this is true I am not prepared to
say Men who have spent al lifetime
studying nothing but the liver dis
agree on some points regarding its
| functions.
One man says that, with the excep-
ton of foods, gastric juice and the
bile there are at present no known
liver stmulants. Other clinicans con-
tend that oleic acid, EPSON salts, egg
yolk, and cream all promote a free
flow Of bile. The truth of the latter
contention certainly can be demon
strated.
How Jaundice is Produced
When for any reason bile is re-
tained by the liver it passes into the
blood and tinges the skin and mu-
cous membranes a yellowish hue
This is first noticed ON the whites of
the eyes. The most common cause of
retention of the bile is a partial clos
ure of the ducts as a result of an
inflammation that extends into these
ducts from the small intestines. Less
often the blocking to- the outflow of
bile is produced by a gladstone that
has become lodged in the duct
Many case Of supposed gallstones
is sent ito the operating table, when
the patient has nothing but an in
Illumination of the ducts.
The X-ray is now of considerable
assistance in diagnosing liver and
gall bladder conditions The patient
is given some capsules containing a
specific dye. AS the capsule dissolves
in the intestine the dye enters thc
1 ducts and gall bladder and often
coats the stones that are there in q
way that makes them visible ON the
X-ray film. If no dye enters the gall
bladder it may be assumed chat the
| duct is nhstr11cted Som ntirl ns If is