REPAIR AND WASTE 2$$ 



our tissues is a matter of interest to the general reader as 

 well as to the nurse, and a study of the subject will afford 

 much information that will be available to any who are 

 seeking to acquire a knowledge of our physiologic consti- 

 tution. 



The necessity of supplying matter to the system arises 

 from another necessity that of the generation of force. 

 It may thus be remarked that all available or active phy- 

 sical force, displayed in the voluntary or involuntary mo- 

 tions of our bodies, is derived from the force of the several 

 affinities of the primary elements that enter into the struc- 

 tures. 



By distributing the static state of the chemic forces 

 power is generated. All the materials that have their 

 affinities thus exhausted become useless in the position 

 they occupy, and must be replaced by other or fresh 

 materials. Here, then, is the source of waste. Thus, 

 it may again be said, a constant interchange of material 

 takes place in the very substance of our tissues, new 

 material from without replacing old and effere substances 

 that have become so in the generation of force. 



It is this vital principle that prescribes the formulae 

 for these chemic changes, according as tne involuntary 

 actions or motions of the body may require force, or as 

 the mind may call upon the voluntary muscles to expend 

 force. If you reflect for a moment you will realize that 

 you cannot act, move, or even think without demanding 

 the sacrifice or destruction of a portion of your body equal 

 in extent to such motion, whether it be of the mind or of 

 the body. Thus we constantly die while we live, and in 

 this we form a complete analogy to the entire order of 

 organic life. 



Excretion. The materials, after having undergone 

 the metamorphosis and having been neutralized by the 

 readjustment of their affinities, now require to be removed 



