ng chilled.

*Special Care after Certain Diseases.*--Certain diseases, as measles,
diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid fever, sometimes have the effect of
weakening the kidneys (and other vital organs) and of starting disease in
them. When this occurs it is usually the result of exposure or of
over-exertion while the body is in a weakened condition. Severe chilling
at such a time, by driving blood from the surface to the parts within,
often causes inflammation of the kidneys. On recovering from any wasting
disease one should exercise great caution both in resuming his regular
work and in exposing his body to wet or cold.

*Misunderstood Symptoms.*--Pains in the small of the back, an increase in
the secretions of the kidneys, and a sediment in the urine very naturally
suggest some disorder of the kidneys. It is a fact, however, that these
symptoms have little or no relation to the state of the kidneys and may
occur when the kidneys are in a perfectly healthy condition. The kidneys
are not located in the small of the back, but above this place, so that
pains in this region are evidently not from the kidneys, while the
increase in the flow of the urine may arise from a number of causes, one
of which is an increase of certain waste products passed into the blood.
The symptoms referred to are frequently the results of nervous exhaustion,
resulting from overstudy, worry, eye strain, or some other condition that
overtaxes the nervous system. When this is the case, relief is obtained
through resting the nerves. Actual disease of the kidneys can only be
determined through a chemical and microscopic examination of the urine. To
resort to some patent medicine for kidney trouble without knowing that
such trouble exists, as is sometimes done, is both foolish and unhygienic.

*Alcoholic Beverages and the Elimination of Waste.*--Causing as it does
such serious diseases as cirrhosis of the liver and Bright's disease of
the kidneys (footnote, page 210), alcohol will greatly interfere in this
way with the elimination of waste. There is also evidence to the effect
that it interferes with waste elimination before the stage is reached of
causing disease of these organs. Researches have shown that alcohol
increases the amount of uric acid in the body and decreases the amount of
urea found in the urine. The conclusion to be drawn is that alcohol
interferes in some way with the change of the harmful uric acid into the
comparatively harmles