212 THE VITAL PROCESSES 



disease of the kidneys can only be determined through a 

 chemical and microscopic examination of the urine. To 

 resort to some patent medicine for kidney trouble without 

 knowing that such trouble exists, as is sometimes done, is 

 both foolish and unhygienic. 



Alcoholic Beverages and the Elimination of Waste. Causing as it 

 does such serious diseases as cirrhosis of the liver and Bright's disease 

 of the kidneys (footnote, page 210), alcohol will greatly interfere in this 

 way with the elimination of waste. There is also evidence to the effect 

 that it interferes with waste elimination before the stage is reached of 

 causing disease of these organs. Researches have shown that alcohol 

 increases the amount of uric acid in the body and decreases the amount 

 of urea found in the urine. The conclusion to be drawn is that alcohol 

 interferes in some way with the change of the harmful uric acid into the 

 comparatively harmless urea an interference which in some instances 

 results in great harm. It has also been shown that malted liquors, such 

 as beer and ale, contain substances which, like the caffein of tea and 

 coffee (page 167), are readily converted into uric acid. 1 Wines contain 

 acids which may also act injuriously. The harm which such substances 

 do is, of course, additional to that caused by the alcohol. 



Summary. As a result of the oxidations and other 

 changes at the cells, substances are produced that can no 

 longer serve a purpose in the body. They are of the 

 nature of waste, and their continuous removal from the 

 body is as necessary to the maintenance of life as the in- 

 troduction of food and oxygen. The organs whose work it 

 is to remove the waste, excepting the lungs, are glands ; and 

 the material which they remove are of the nature of secre- 

 tions. From the cells, the waste passes through the lymph 

 in the blood. From the blood it is separated by the excre- 

 tory organs and passed to the exterior of the body. 



Exercises. i. What general purposes are served by the glands in 

 the body ? 



* 1 Hall, The Purin Bodies. 



