hem to the excretion of an
unusual amount of the watery elements of the urine, as if to
wash the irritant away.

"But it is only the watery element that is increased, not the
urea, which is the substance representing the waste of vital
action, and is a poison to the system; this it is the special
office of the kidneys to remove. Not only does alcohol not
increase its elimination, but actually lessens the discharge.
And should the irritation of the spirit continue, or be
augmented in force, inflammation would follow, and the excretion
of urea nearly or entirely cease and life be in the greatest
jeopardy. Relief or death then must speedily follow."--Dr. E.
Chenery, of Boston, in _Alcohol Inside Out_.

"Alcohol causes kidney-disease in several ways. In the first
place it unduly excites the activity of the organs. Next, by
impeding oxidation it interferes with the proper preparation of
nitrogen wastes: they are brought to the kidneys in an unfit
state for removal, and injure those organs. Third, when more
than a small quantity of alcohol is taken, some of it is passed
out of the body unchanged, through the kidneys, and injures
their substance. The kidney-disease most commonly produced by
alcohol is one kind of "Bright's disease," so called from the
physician who first described it. The connective tissue of the
organ grows in excess, and the true excreting kidney-substance
dwindles away. At last the organ becomes quite unable to do its
work, and death results.

"The three most common causes of Bright's disease are an acute
illness, as scarlet fever, of which it is a frequent result;
sudden exposure to cold when warm (this often drives blood in
excessive quantity from the skin to internal organs, and leads
to kidney-disease); and the habitual drinking of alcoholic
liquids."--Dr. Newell Martin in _The Human Body_.

"Every physician knows or should know, that the quantity and
quality of the effete, or waste, material separated from the
blood by the kidneys and voided in the urine, is such as to
render a knowledge of the action of any remedy or drink on the
function of these organs, of the greatest importance in the
treatment of all diseases, and especially those of an acute
febrile character. As was long since demonstrated by clinical
observation, and more recently