THE FRONTIERS OF MEDICINE 



The Kidney. The kidney is the organ most prominently- 

 concerned in the control of the water balance in the human 

 body. It gets rid of the superfluous water when this is 

 necessary, and sees to it that a proper amount of water 

 remains in the blood when the supply is running low. 

 If the kidney is diseased, the water balance may be upset 

 and other diseases result. In various forms of diseases of 

 the tissue generally, the method by which the body 

 controls its water supply may be disturbed and the effects 

 in the form of symptoms are prompt. If the body is deprived 

 rapidly of water by fever, or if a person is unconscious and 

 water is not put into the body, the blood will take up 

 water from the tissues. The balance of water in the blood 

 must be maintained, and even small changes in its content 

 are accompanied by severe general reactions. 



Of course, some water must be used in order to carry 

 out poisonous waste products which may bring about 

 death unless they are eliminated. Therefore, the kidneys 

 may continue to get rid of some water until the whole 

 body is pretty well dried out. It is an interesting com- 

 mentary that prize fighters who attempt to make certain 

 weights in order to fight in certain classes, subject them- 

 selves before the fight to this intensive drying-out process, 

 and as a result sometimes enter the ring so completely 

 shattered by the distortion of their water regulating 

 system that defeat is inevitable. 



In many diseases in which patients have been unable 

 to take energizing foods so that their tissues have been 

 exhausted in order to provide the body with these sub- 

 stances, the giving of small amounts of sugar with a large 

 amount of water sometimes is followed by a prompt 

 improvement. 



Since the great importance of water in illness has been 

 so definitely established, many methods have been worked 

 out for making certain that any sick patient receives a 



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