The Skin and the Kidneys 205 



311. Effects of Alcohol upon the Kidneys. The duty 

 of the kidneys in ridding the blood of waste products, and of 

 any foreign or poisonous material introduced, must be car- 

 ried on continually, or the whole body suffers from the 

 bad effects of the retained waste matters. 



These two important organs, with their large blood vessels 

 conveying enormous amounts of blood to and from their 

 tissues, feel very quickly the presence of alcohol. Alco- 

 holic liquors may irritate the delicate renal tissues and 

 speedily disturb their normal action in excreting the proper 

 waste materials from the blood. 



The continued congestion of the kidneys, together with 

 repeated irritation of their structural cells, resulting from 

 strong drink, tends to cut off their needed nutrition and 

 usually results in a series of renal disturbances. 



The urea, which is a poison and which must be removed, 

 may be retained in the system, while the albumin, which 

 is essential to healthy blood, may be filtered away through 

 the diseased kidneys. The presence of albumin in the 

 renal excretion is often an important symptom to the 

 physician in making a diagnosis of the insidious and fatal 

 disease known as albuminuria^ or " Bright's disease." 



.Repeated indulgence in alcoholic liquors often results in 

 the infiltration of fat cells into the cortical substance of 

 the kidneys. This is known as " fatty degeneration of the 

 kidneys." 



