20i QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



When a person who has taken exercise freely in the open air, 

 and has lived on a diet of animal food with alcoholic drinks, changes 

 his habits of life and becomes sedentary, and continues the same 

 diet, he falls into disease. The large proportion of albuminous 

 matter of the food no longer finds its use in repairing the waste of 

 the tissues in nutrition, and hence accumulates in the blood. This 

 fluid becomes too rich in nitrogenized principles ; there is an in- 

 flammatory state of the system produced ; the formation of urea 

 and still more of uric acid, becomes excessive, and hence arises a 

 disposition to gravel, gout, or rheumatism, three diseases closely 

 allied to each other. They all seem to be connected with an ex- 

 cess of nitrogenized principles in the blood, though this does nofi 

 always arise from the same cause. - 



The lungs and liver have functions analogous in this respect, thati' 

 they both separate carbon from the blood ; in the former it is com- 

 bined with oxygen ; in the latter with hydrogen. There is a cer- 

 tain degree of antagonism between these glands, the inertness of the 

 one being compensated by an increased activity of the other. In 

 cold climates the lungs are most active, and are hence disposed to 

 inflammatory affections. In hot climates, when the lungs separate 

 the carbon imperfectly from the blood, the liver is thrown into in- 

 creased activity, and hence its diseases are here most common. Er 

 ropeans who pass to tropical climates, and continue their diet rich 

 in fat, with free use of alcoholic drinks, inevitably bring on disease 

 of the liver by overtasking this organ. The same thing happens to 

 those who in temperate climates indulge in such a diet, while they 

 lead a sedentary life in warm houses. Drunkards, almost always 

 induce disease of the liver by surcharging the blood with carbon and 

 hydrogen, and thus keeping the liver in a state of constant excita- 

 tion. This explains also how persons leading an active life can re- 

 sist the eff'ects of alcoholic drinks, even when taken in excess, so 

 much better than those who are sedentary. The former work ofi 

 a part of the alcohol by their active respiration ; in the latter the 

 whole labor falls on the liver. 



