bacteria are
expelled. But an inflammation of this kind never lasts. People who
have had ptomaine poisoning sometimes assert that they are afterwards
susceptible to poisoning by the kind of food which first made them
ill. Such a susceptibility is not so much a hold-over effect from the
poison as a hold-over fear which tends to repeat the physical reaction
whenever that food is eaten. I, myself, have had ptomaine poisoning
from canned salmon, but I have never since had any trouble about
eating salmon.

=Sour Stomach.= Sometimes when a person lies down an hour or so after
a meal, some of the contents of his stomach comes up in his throat.
Then if he be ignorant of physiology, he may be very much alarmed
because his stomach is "sour." Not knowing that he would have far
greater cause for alarm if his stomach were _not_ sour, he may, if the
idea is interesting to him, begin to restrict his diet, to take
digestive tablets, and to develop a regular case of nervous dyspepsia.
Sometimes when the specialists measure the amount of hydrochloric acid
in the stomach, they do find too much or too little acid; but this
merely means that an emotion has made the glands work overtime or has
stopped their action for a little while. The functions of the body
are so very, very old that there is little likelihood of permanent
disturbance.

=Biliousness.= The stomach is not the only part of the body concerning
which we lack proper confidence. Next to it the liver is the most
maligned organ in the whole body. Although the liver is about as
likely to be upset in its process of secreting bile as the ocean is
likely to be lacking in salt, many an intelligent person labels every
little disturbance "biliousness" and lays it at the door of his
faithful, dependable liver.

As a matter of fact, the liver is liable to injury from virtually but
three sources--alcohol, bacterial infection, and cancer--and even a
liver hardened by alcohol goes on secreting bile as usual. The patient
dies of dropsy but not of "liver complaint."

Some people act as if they thought bile were a poison. On the
contrary, it is a very useful digestant; it aids in keeping down the
number of harmful bacteria and helps to carry the food from intestines
to blood. Every day the liver manufactures at least a pint of this
important fluid. The body uses what it needs and stores the surplus
for reserve in the gall-bladder. The flow is continuous and, despite
all appearances to the