Part 11

The liver and the spleen also break up the pigment or coloring matter of the red blood corpuscles. As they become worn out, they are retired in the liver and the spleen from the circulation. The iron is retained by the liver cells and the remainder is thrown off from the liver, in the bile.

The liver is often called the watch dog of the body, because it is on guard for all poisons which pass through it in the blood. The large part of these toxic substances are absorbed through the alimentary canal with other foodstuffs. Many of them are the result of the fermentation of foods which are not digested as promptly as they should be, on account of an insufficient secretion of digestive juices, or a failure to secrete them in normal proportions, or due to inactivity of the stomach and intestines.

It surely is a wise provision of nature to supply a guard to oxidize, or break down these poisons and make them harmless, so that they do not pass to all parts of the body as poisons, thus affecting the nerves and the blood stream, and, through these, the entire system.

The necessity of correct habits of deep breathing will be readily seen, because oxygen is required to break down the poisons as well as to oxidize the waste of the system.

One example of the action of the liver in rendering substances harmless, is its oxidation of alcohol. From one to three ounces of alcohol a day are oxidized and made harmless in the liver, varying according to the individual and to the condition, at different times, in the same person. If the limit of one to three ounces is exceeded, the excess is not oxidized and intoxication results. These evidences of intoxication are in the nature of narcosis; alcohol is now regarded as a narcotic along with ether and chloroform.

It was formerly held by physiologists that alcohol was a food, because its oxidation liberates body heat and it was assumed that this liberation of heat, was the same as that freed by the combustion of fats, starches, and sugar uniting with oxygen. More recent knowledge, however, has unquestionably determined that heat, resulting from oxidation of alcohol, does not keep up body temperature; the pores of the skin are opened and there is a greater loss of heat through the skin. This really makes the system less able to resist cold. Large doses of alcohol actually cause a fall in body temperature and every force of the body is decreased in efficiency, while if alcohol were an actual food the efficiency would be increased. We are forced to the conclusion, therefore, that alcohol is a pseudo-food as it is a pseudo-stimulant.

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The muscles play an important part in the use of foods. Most of the heat is generated in them, by the sugar and fats coming in contact with the oxygen in the blood. This heat is liberated during every moment of the twenty-four hours, asleep or awake. Of course, more is liberated during exercise, since the movement of the muscles sets all tissues into activity and the blood circulates more strongly, bringing a greater supply of oxygen to them. It is always well during active exercise to stop frequently and fully inflate the lungs. The effort should always be made to breathe fully and deeply—otherwise the pressure of the liberated carbon dioxid will cause a pressure throughout the blood stream, particularly about the heart and in the head. This pressure is relieved when the excess of carbonic acid gas liberated has been thrown off by the lungs. Nature makes the effort to throw off the excess of carbonic acid gas by forcing one to breathe more rapidly while running or taking unusual exercise.

The oxidation changes are simply a combustion of sugars and fats, liberating latent heat as they are brought into contact with the oxygen. Exercise and a regulation of the amount of carbohydrates and fats consumed in the foods is the natural, scientific method for the reduction of an excess of fat.

A certain amount of protein is constantly oxidized in the muscles, also, being broken down into carbon dioxid, water and a number of nitrogenous mid-products. The carbonic acid gas and water are thrown off by the lungs and the partially oxidized, nitrogenous waste is carried to the liver, where it is further oxidized and prepared for excretion, through the kidneys, lungs, skin and intestines.

When sugar is carried to the muscles in larger quantities than can be utilized by them, it is often built up into animal starch and stored in the form of glycogen, similar to its chemical change and storage in the liver.

This storage of glycogen in the muscles and in the liver is a wise provision of Nature. It is a reserve to be called upon whenever the expenditure of heat and energy exceeds the amount supplied in any day’s rations.

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The nerves oxidize food materials, but not to any great extent, excepting during nervous activity. During periods of rest, food materials are stored in the nerve cells in grandular form. They represent concentrated nerve foods and are the result of anabolic processes. During nervous activity they are oxidized and carried away through the blood and the lymph. This oxidation of the food, stored in the nerves, creates nervous energy and heat.

The energy liberated by the nerves resembles electrical energy.

Where one subjects himself continuously to an excess of nervous activity, all reserve food material, stored in the nerve cells, is used and the result is a trying nerve tension. Such individuals need plenty of easily digested food.

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The lungs absorb oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxid. They occasionally throw off a very little organic material.

The carbon dioxid is carried to the lungs from the tissues through the venous stream and diffused through the capillary walls of the lungs. The oxygen is absorbed into the capillaries through the thin air sacs in the walls of the lungs.

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The kidneys do not absorb as do the lungs, neither do they perform any anabolic work as does the liver, nor catabolic work as the muscles, nerves and the liver. They simply throw off waste matter.

The blood passes through them in a transverse branch from the abdominal aorta. In its circuit urea, uric acid, urates, sulphuric acid, sulphates and sodium phosphates pass from the blood with the water and are thrown from the system; hence the kidneys are purifying organs, as are the lungs. The blood returning from the kidneys through the veins is pure, just as the blood in the pulmonary vein is pure, while that in the arteries to the kidneys and the lungs is impure.

The above substances cannot be thrown off from the lungs. They are the products of oxidation of proteins, partly of the living tissues and partly those broken down direct as they are supplied in the foods, in excess of the needs of the system.

Interference in the action of the kidneys results in a hoarding of these substances in the blood, and may produce an intoxicated condition known as uremic poisoning.

Water in abundance and diuretic fruits and vegetables, which increase the activity of the kidneys, should be taken where uremia is indicated. (Foods which cause a free flow of urine are called diuretic foods.)

The sweat glands also throw off an excess of water and salts. The kidneys and the skin are interdependent; if the kidneys are inactive the skin throws off a larger quantity and if the skin is inactive, or if for any reason the pores of the skin are closed, the kidneys are more active. This is evidenced by the sudden immersion of the body in cold water; the pores of the skin being closed the kidneys immediately act.

During the summer, or at any time when the skin throws off more water than usual, the kidneys are less active and the urine, being more concentrated, is darker.

The skin also throws off carbon dioxid and, to a slight extent, it absorbs oxygen.