The special work of the kidneys is to rid the body of many kinds of waste. This brings us round to the subject of food again and calls our attention to two important facts about the disposal of waste which the blood gathers up:

1. If we have eaten more carbohydrate than we need, the surplus is stored up as fat and glycogen, while the waste takes the shape of water and of carbon dioxid gas which leaves the body through the lungs.

2. If we eat more meat than we need, the surplus is worked over in the liver and sent off as waste through the kidneys. Moreover, if the kidneys are overtaxed in their work, they fail to clear the blood entirely through which A, artery; B, vein; C, tube water leaves the kidney of its proteid waste. This

waste may then settle in different parts of the body and result in gout, rheumatism, and kindred ills. Anything, therefore, that interferes with the prompt, healthy action of the kidneys is a misfortune to us. So true is this that many a man with kidney trouble has

been refused by insurance companies when he wished to get his life insured. Such business houses know that a person who has upset the power of his kidneys is a "poor risk." Because of this intelligent men listen in

tently when scientists tell them

that alcohol has a direct effect on the kidneys and that the kidneys are specially affected by weak alcoholic drinks taken in large quantities. It is indeed a fact recognized by all doctors that those who use beer regularly, even though they drink it moderately, are repeatedly found to have trouble with their kidneys.

Not only does alcohol make the capillaries of liver and kidneys inefficient, but it benumbs the workmight be called a laboratory ing power of each gland. It robs them of their ability to be thoroughgoing, wide-awake chemists. For this reason it is as much of a calamity for these glands to receive alcohol as it would be for human chemists to be made stupid by the same alcohol during the time that they are carrying on important investigations in a modern laboratory.

CHAPTER XXVI

HAMPERED BY CLOTHING, OR ABOVE AND BELOW THE DIAPHRAGM

Men and women who are alive to-day well remember the time when fashion declared that any woman who wished to be well dressed and stylish must have a small waist. Of course we ourselves know that a woman's waist is, naturally, just as large for her size as a man's waist is for his size. But once upon a time fashion said to women, "No matter what the natural size of your waist is, you must manage to make it small somehow."

It was then that the lacing began. And after that, in many lands, thousands upon thousands of women crowded their soft bodies into unnatural shape. Young women did it, and old women too. One and all they were ignorant. They knew nothing about the harm they could do by their lacing.

This went on for years. In fact, the fashion for small waists has come and gone from early times until now. The fashion itself changes, but the harm done is ever the same. For this reason we must study the subject and learn why tight clothes are objectionable. By knowing the truth, we shall be able to save ourselves

whenever the fashion comes round. Study the picture and think what that young woman did to her body when she laced herself out of shape. Remember that she laced not only her ribs but the soft parts of her body too. Those soft parts are shown on page 198. Look at the

(After Tracy)

picture carefully. Imagine that some new kind of

X-ray is ready to reveal a few miserable secrets, and count them up for yourself:

I. You will find yourself studying a liver which is crowded into such small compass that its capillaries and tiny tubes are folded and pressed

upon each other until they labor under enormous disadvantage. This liver can

not do good work in preparing glycogen from the liquid food which it has received, nor thoroughly purify venous blood of its waste, nor manufacture other things from this waste. No wonder, then, that the waste kept in the system is gradually giving to this particular woman a dull complexion. Few things

more quickly rob a face of its bright pink and white than an inactive liver. By studying faces and waists you will have no trouble in coming to the conclusion that those who lace are apt to be the ones who paint and powder the most. Evidently they try to conceal the fact that the liver is not doing full work and that the complexion

needs repairs.

2. Under the bandage the stomach endures the same pressure as the liver. It has less space in which to carry on its operations. It is consequently so hampered and hindered that indigestion often follows, and nothing is more fatal to a beau

tiful complexion than the results of this condition.

3. The upper long folds of the small intestine are pressed downwards; they, too, become inactive. and food moves slowly through them. The disadvantage in this event is that the longer the food tarries on its way the more probability there is that it will decay and produce gas. Such gas is immensely