DISEASES OF THE 

 URINARY AND GENERATIVE ORGANS. 



In attempting to treat of these subjects in a plain and easy-to- 

 be-understood manner, we confess to entertaining some fear as to 

 success, for we recognize no little difficulty in the effort before us; 

 it is indeed by no means a simple matter to explain why such 

 difficulty exists: the fact, however, is an acknowledged one, that 

 even in the realm of physiology, masters of the science are unable 

 to reconcile, one with the other, the multifarious details affecting 

 the functions of the organs now under consideration, and precisely 

 as to the results of the performance of said functions. It is, how- 

 ever, desirable for the better appreciation of the disea.ses affecting 

 the urinary organs, that it should be understood that broadly 

 speaking their functions are the separation from the blood of those 

 substances that the body has no further use for, the collection of 

 such in a state of solution and their conveyance out of the body; 

 the kidneys are the organs through the medium of which the 

 effete material in the blood is separated and collected for trans- 

 mission through tubes which connect the kidneys with the bladder, 

 the receptacle provided for retention of the urine as it is 

 drop by 'drop filtered through the kidneys; from the blad- 

 der it passes through a still larger tube called the urethra, 

 which in the male passes down the full length of the generative 

 organ, while in the female it empties it.self into the genital canal 

 about two or three inches from the opening of the same. To re- 

 turn to the kidneys, their mechanism is arranged structurally to 

 realize a continuous process of steady filtration; very minute blood 

 vessels lie side by side with equally minute tubes for the collection 

 of urine, the arrangements for which are most beautifully ordered 

 for the realization of this object; the power of selection — if such 

 a term may be applied — which the kidneys possess to draw off 

 from the blood, only those constituents which are worn out and 



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