HANDICAPPED LIVES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7928, 11 October 1911, Page 5

HANDICAPPED LIVES

By W.S.C. “Be your best, do your best, and always have the best." This is a very good motto to put in one’s hat and to endeavour to live up to. The nearer we can approach to its realisation the fuller and happier will be ; our lives. Never be satisfied with anything that is second-rate. It is true that we often have to put up with conditions and things which fall short of being .the best, but “putting up with" and being “satisfied with" are two very different terms. The most important jiart of the motto is “Be your best." You,- cannot do your best nor generally have the best without being your best, and to bo your best you must have good health, it is impossible for anyone who is not in first-rate health to do as good work or to get as much enjoyment out of life as he could If his health were all that it should be. • Yet, when you think of it, it is surprising how many people seem to not only have poor health, but also to have settled down to a state of, if not satisfaction, indifference regarding their condition. They seem to have come to the conclusion that poor health is a normal condition, and. it is useless to repine or to do anything to effect improvement. Now it is to these people, as well as others who are sick and are also dissatisfied, that we desire to give some information which will, probably, radically alter their outlook on life.

Most of the ills from which wo sutler (have their, origin within our bodies and are due to interruption of Nature's laws. Knowledge of these laws is necessary to everyone, but, unfortunately, most people have but a nodding acquaintance with them. For instance, how many of us fully realise the fact that every instant of our lives our blood is being continuously contaminated by various poisons actually created by the wear and tear of our flesh or tissue ? These ’ poisons must bo expelled from the system, by natural means, as fast as they are produced, or we must suffer from disease. Each movement w© make, each breath we draw, necessitates waste of tissue, and tho tissue wasted, or used up, is converted into poisonous waste material.

It is,jlist as essential .to life that the body should waste away as it is that its substance should be constantly renewed. or replaced, by an adequate supply of fresh air, water, and food. 'We, therefore, give a few typical examples of the manner, in which waste takes place. When a man draws a breath, ho fills his lungs with air. Fresh air is composed of oxygen diluted with' nitrogen. When a man empties his lungs by breathing out, it is found that oxygen has been taken from the air, and that the breath ‘exhaled contains a largo amount of carbonic acid. The man did not breathe in the carbonic acid. It would be impossible for him to do so, as this gas, when pure, is highly poisonous. It is carbonic acid which sometimes fills the workings of coal mines, and causes so many lamentable deaths amongst the miners. So deadly is it that a flame will not burn in it. The carbonic acid in the breath is actually made in the body from carbon taken in the form of food, etc. The quantity of solid carbon thus exhfiled in the breath every twenty-four hours is equal to eight ounces of pure charcoal. Another way in which our bodies waste is through the skin. The skin, which looks passive, is really always 'working hard, ridding the body of poisons, which, if not removed, would be just’as dangerus to life as carbonic acid. The skin expels these poisons in the form of perspiration; and, although it may not bo visible, perspiration is oozing from us all the time. If a man were completely covered ivith a coating of waterproof material he would live but a very little , while. The skin, lungs, kidneys and liver are the organs upon which we are dependent for the extraction of poisonous matter from the blood, and. its .removal from the system. It is, however, not with the skin and lungs that we -now' propose to deal.; The skin, as a general thing, needs hut. regular treatment with good soap and ■water, and it will do its duty perfectly and without, complaint, -The lungs are vigorous organs, - and wo . are soon made aware of . any interference • with their action by a fitrof coughing or a choking sensation’lt-is the importance of looking after the health of the kidneys and liver which it is desirable to emphasise. These organs are the most delicate of all those engaged in’ extracting ' and removing from the blood the waste poisons as fast as they aro produced iu the body. Unless the kidneys and liver are in a fit state to thoroughly perform their task, the particular poisons, which it 'is their duty to make and ,extract, will remain in the system, and,' as the kidneys and liver are often unahlo to tell us directly, by a sensation of p*in, that there is anything the matter with them, we are probably unaware of their failure until we begin to suffer from rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, lumbago, /backache, sciatica, blood disorders, anaemia, indigestion, biliousness, jaundice, sick-dreadache, general debility, gravel, stone or bladder troubles, air of which complaints are caused by the retention in tho body of urinary and biliary poisons.

In order that life may he sustained, a certain quantity of nitrogen ■ must' be contained in tho food m eat. The nitrogen in the air is not absorbed into the system through the lungs. Tho body is continuously demanding a fresh supply of nitrogen to replace the constant waste or this element, and such fresh supply can be derived only from digested food. As tho body tissues waste, nitrogen is liberated - in tho form of urea and urio acid,. which should, in duo course, be eliminated by the kidneys. When urea and, uric acid are not formed in excess, and the kidneys are working healthily, the two poisons leave the body in solution in tjie urine, and aro consequently harmless;, but-, if the kidneys, through weakness or disease, are incapable :ox performing their duty, or if nitrogen is contained in our food in quantity so excessive that even healthy kidneys cannot cope with it, the blood is not properly purified, and we suffer from uno .poisoning in some one or more of its numerous forms. Headache, Depression, Low i TemperaUiro, Anaemia, and Asthma are all associated with the presence of an excess of uric acid; whilst Rheumatic and Gouty affections coincide with tho deposition of uric acid in the joints and tissues. Digestive troubles and defective nutrition . aro often duo to the presence of this acid, the contaminated blood; being deprived of its power to absorb food. . Uric acid crystals deposited in the' bladder form Gravel and Stones; In cases of nervous breakdown, insanity, or epilepsy,. uric acid, is frequently shown to be in excess. In fact, an excess /of urio acid accompanies half the ills which afflict humanity. Even a person .who is in moderately good health—and most people have but moderate health —would feel far better and enjoy .life more competely if the extraction of urio poisons were properly performed-by the kidneys; whilst a person, who is feeling out of sorts, miserable, and generally run down, has, in all probability, an excess of uric acid in tho blood. : ‘ . '

The kidneys are situated in the small of the back, one on each side of the spine. Human , kidneys are similar ■in shape to those of a sheep but are somewhat larger.: They are encased in fat, and are .supplied with - arteries which convey blood to them from the heart. By a process akin to filtering, the kidneys take any excess of water from the blood, and they also extract from the blood various waste poisons with which it becomes laden in its journey through the veins.

When a person is in good health these wasto poisons are dissolved in the water taken' from the blood by the kidneys, and the solution is passed through narrow passages leading from , each kidney ■into, the bladder, and ‘ thence. expelled from the body. This solution’ is known as urine. Some of the poisons contained in urine are animal matter, such as

urea and uric acid; others are mineral matter, being salts of lime, magnesia, potash, and soda. Unless the kidneys do their work thoroughly the waste matter is incompletely, extracted from the blood, and becomes actively poisonous, causing us to suffer from disorders which cannot be cured until the kidneys arc restored to health and activity. After the blood is filtered and puri,fied by the kidneys it enters the veins, and is in due time returned to the heart, having, in the meanwhile, traversed the body and taken up a fresh supply of waste matter. The heart again sends the blood to tho kidneys, which once more filter it and extract the impurities. This process goes on without ceasing day or night. ; The kidneys of tiie average man filter and extract from the blood about three pints of \irino in twenty-four hours, in this quantity of. urine are dissolved about an ounce of urea and ten or tuelvo grains in weight of uric acid, together with other animal and mineral matter, varying from a third of an ounce to nearly an ounce. . * Tho blood, in tho course of its .circulation, carries nourishment, derived from the food we eat, and oxygen, to every part of the tissues of the body, and .receives from the tissues matter which they have consumed, and for which they have no further use. This waste matter it is tho duty of the skin, lungs, and kidneys to throw off and get rid of* In the form of carbonic acid, .the lungs throw off the equivalent of eight ounce*, of pure charcoal every twenty-four hours, and the kidneys do their share by eliminating urea, uric acid, etc-, as described. i

Closely associated with the work performed py the kidneys is the work performed by the liver. The liver may be described as a chemical # laboratory. The blood which enters the liver through the portal vein is loaded with the products of the digestion of food. These products the- liver deals with in such a manner that the composition of the blood when it leaves the liver is very much changed, a sort of secondary digestion having taken place in the liver. Bile has been manufactured out of tho blood; a substance called glycogen has been made from the sugar in th© blood, and stored in the liver for future use, and’ various other transformations have taken place. The liver, also, probably destroys and removes from the blood red corpuscles, which- are worn out and are of no further utility. The liver makes and extracts from the blood two.or three pounds of bile every day. Tho bile is delivered into the intestines, and acts as a natural cathartic, besides assisting-in the digestion of. fatty food and retarding the decomposition ot such food as it passes along the intestines. Now, if 'ho liver fails to do its work thoroughly, it follows that the blood, in. stead of having its substance dealt with and cleansed in the manner described, is carried by tho veins to every part of the body in a condition which is inimical to the welfare' of tho body, . In other words, . the blood is laden with biliary poisons, and the presence of these biliary ■poisons in the blood causes us to suffer from indigestion, dyspepsia, general. debility, biliousness, blood disorders, sickheadache, jaundice, anaemia, and a host of other biliary troubles. The importance of tho kidneys and liver being in a healthy condition cannot bo too greatly , insisted upon, therefore a medicine, which possesses a healing and restorative influence on those vital organs is a boon to mankind. Such a medicine is Warner’s Safe Cure, which acts beneficially and equally upon both the kidneys and liver, restoring them to health and activity when they are diseased or feoble. Even disorders diagnosed as Bright's Disease —one of the . most fatal ot diseases—frequently have yielded to treatment by this remarkable medicine. Many people have failed to understand why Warner’s Safo Cure cures so many complaints, seemingly so different; as rheumatism, gout, lumbago, neuralgia, backache, sciatica, blood-disorders, anaemia, indigestion, biliousness, jaundice, sick-headache, general debility, gravel, stone, arid bladder troubles. The explanation is very simple. All the disorders cured by Warner’s Safe Cure arc due to the inability of the kidneys and liver to extract and expel _ urinary and biliary poisons. By restoring kidneys and liver to' health and activity, Warner's Safe Cure enables those organs to properly perform their functions and tr> free the blood from urinary and biliary poisons, when pain and sickness, caused by the presence of such poisons, necessarily ceases. Thus the cures effected ate natural cures.

, A pamphlet, containing full particulars relating to Warner’s Safe Cure and accounts of many remarkable cases of restoration to health when other means had failed, will be sent post free, on request, by H. H. Warner and’ Co., Limited, Australasian Branch, Melbourne. Warner’s Safe Cure is sold by chemists and storekeepers everywhere both in tho original (ss) bottles and iu the cheaper (2s 6d) "Concentrated," non-alcoholic fonrt.