CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



of one of the effects produced by habitual over- 

 indulgence in intoxicating liquors. 



The affection with which disorders of the liver 

 are commonly associated is jaundice, in which 

 the skin and white of the eyes assume a yellow 

 colour. Jaundice is not a disease in itself, but a 

 symptom. It may be produced in one of two 

 ways : either by the liver ceasing to secrete bile, 

 and consequently leading to an accumulation of 

 the colouring-matter of that fluid in the blood ; or 

 by an obstruction to the flow of bile from the 

 gall-bladder into the bowel, and the re-absorption 

 into the blood of the colouring-matter. Jaundice 

 occurs much more frequently from the latter than 

 from the former cause. The bile ducts may be- 

 come plugged up by mucus, or by a concretion 

 from the bile called a gall-stone, or by tumours. 

 In whatever way jaundice may be produced, the 

 general symptoms are much the same namely, 

 the yellow skin ; the yellow eye ; the urine becomes 

 dark in colour, and on the surface has a greenish 

 lustre ; the fasces are like white clay ; the tongue 

 is covered with a thick yellowish-white fur; the 

 appetite is gone ; and the pulse is usually very 

 slow. The treatment, of course, depends on the 

 cause. If there are reasons for believing the bile 

 is not secreted, the liver is stimulated by small 

 doses of such drugs as sulphate of soda (10 grains 

 to a dose) with decoction of taraxacum ; if, on 

 the other hand, the jaundice arises from obstruc- 

 tion, mild purgatives, such as colocynth or rhu- 

 barb pill, should be given. Rest in bed, and a 

 diet free from fatty matter, are necessary. 



The passage of a gall-stone from the gall- 

 bladder into the bile-duct, is attended with excru- 

 ciating pain, limited to one spot in the region of 

 the liver, and usually on the right side of the 

 vertical median line of the body. The patient is 

 in agony; and there may be much nausea and 

 vomiting from irritation. To relieve the great 

 pain, cover the whole abdomen with hot fomenta- 

 tions, frequently renewed, and give to an adult 25 

 to 30 drops of laudanum in half a glass of water. 

 This dose may be repeated at the end of two 

 hours, if the pain continue. 



2. The Kidney sand Urinary Organs. Affections 

 of the kidneys are obscure in their origin, course, 

 and termination, and require for their detection 

 and treatment more special knowledge than can 

 be communicated here. We must therefore give 

 an idea of their general character, and of those 

 symptoms which call for medical assistance. 

 The kidneys are subject to inflammation, both 

 acute and chronic. The inflammation may in- 

 volve all the tissues of the organ, or only the 

 lining membrane of the tubules of which it is 

 composed. General inflammation of the kidney 

 is rare ; but acute inflammation of the lining 

 membrane, leading to a shedding of the secreting 

 epithelium cells which cover the membrane, is far 

 from uncommon. This latter affection is called 

 desquamative nephritis, or inflammation of the 

 kidney, attended by the desquamation or shedding 

 of the cells just alluded to. It frequently follows 

 an attack of scarlet fever. After this disease, 

 the epidermis of the skin peels off in large scales 

 or flakes. If, in these circumstances, the patient 

 is exposed to a chill, or indulges hi a diet con- 

 taining too much nitrogenous material, more 

 work is laid on the weakened kidney than it can 

 perform, and the disease under consideration is 



776 



the result The obvious feature of the disorder 

 is dropsy, commencing in the face as a puffy, 

 white swelling beneath the eyes. The urine is 

 scanty, dark-coloured, from the admixture of 

 blood ; and if a small quantity be boiled over a gas 

 flame in an iron spoon, it becomes muddy, from 

 the coagulation by heat of albumen, a substance 

 found in blood, but not in healthy urine, but 

 which has passed out of the vessels into the 

 tubules of the kidney in this disease. If the 

 disease be not arrested, the functions of the 

 kidney as a purifier of the blood from nitrogenous 

 matters are interfered with, and there is con- 

 sequently an accumulation in the blood of a 

 substance called urea, which may act directly or 

 indirectly on the brain and spinal cord, and 

 destroy life. The treatment of this disease is 

 residence in a warm room, the use of a warm 

 bath, a milk diet, and, for a child of 10 or 12 

 years of age, 8 or 10 grains of compound jalap 

 powder daily, to drain off fluid by the bowels. 



There are a number of grave diseases of the 

 kidney grouped under the general name of Bright 's 

 disease (named after a distinguished physician 

 who first described them). They consist in vari- 

 ous forms of degeneration of the secreting struc- 

 tures of the kidney, leading to an impoverishment 

 of the blood, by the daily escape of albumen in 

 the urine, and otherwise interfering with the 

 functions of the organ. These cases can be recog- 

 nised and treated only by a medical man. 



The disease known as diabetes, though usually 

 grouped under diseases of the kidney, is not really 

 a disease of that organ. It is characterised by 

 the passage of a large quantity of urine, which 

 contains a sugar identical with grape-sugar, 

 in most kinds of fruit. The nature of the 

 disease is not yet understood. A substance 

 allied to sugar is formed in the liver, and there 

 are physiological reasons for believing that this 

 material is converted into sugar in the blood. The 

 ultimate destination of this sugar is not known, 

 but it is supposed to be converted into car- 

 bonic acid and water. The nervous system 

 influences this sugar-producing function of the 

 liver, because it has been found that artificial 

 injury to a particular part of the brain in animals 

 is followed by the appearance of sugar in the 

 urine ; in fact, it produces temporary diabetes. 

 Whether the origin of diabetes is in the brain, or 

 in the liver, or in both organs, is not at present 

 known. The general symptoms are : muscular 

 debility, gradual wasting of the body, a dry skin, 

 great thirst, and the passage of a large quantity of 

 urine. Occasionally, more especially in aged per- 

 sons, the urine is not much increased in quantity. 

 The disease is often associated with tubercular 

 lung disease, and is almost always fatal In 

 young persons from 18 to 30 years of age, it is 

 invariably fatal within a period of two to five years ; 

 but when it occurs in aged people, it does not 

 advance so rapidly, and the natural period of life 

 may not be shortened. It is a disease for which, 

 in the present state of science, little can be done. 



The state of the urine frequently indicates dis 

 orders which otherwise might pass unnoticed, 

 the same time, persons often distress themselve 

 unnecessarily when they observe changes in 

 excretion, which may be caused by very trh 

 deviations from a healthy state. In health, at 

 2 pints of urine are passed daily. It has a golde 



