p. 13 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 17. (5/3/1910)

LISTEN!

By Editor

Do you feel the need of a better education? Would you like to enter college next fall? Are you ready and willing to do some earnest work which will enable you to realize this desire? If so, we have a proposition for your consideration. We want young people, with or without experience, to

EARN SCHOLARSHIPS

in a pleasant, healthful way. The work is educational; the experience gained will be valuable. Many now at school earned their scholarships last summer, and proved beyond a shadow of doubt the practicability of the plan. They sold the

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

MONTHLY

One young lady earned her scholarship in but a few weeks' time, and worked less than five hours a day, too. Many others did as well; some even better. They found it an easy matter to sell from 50 to 100 copies a day. Seventh-day Adventist colleges and schools all over the country, and the publishers of this magazine, are making concessions in prices to scholarship workers. For further information address your tract society, or the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, California.

The Hygiene of the Skin and Kidneys

By William S. Sadler, M.D.

By William S. Sadler, M.D., Author of "The Science of Living, or the Art of Keeping Well."

IN both structure and function, the skin and kidneys are much alike, and may profitably be studied together. The skin consists of two layers or groups of cells,—the true skin, or dermis, and the outer skin, or epidermis. The outer layer of cells in the epidermis is of a horny nature, and at the ends of the toes and fingers is greatly hardened to form the nails. Hairs are special outgrowths from the hair follicles embedded in the skin. The skin contains oil-glands which empty by spiral ducts upon the surface. The sweat-glands are embedded in the skin and also have ducts leading to the surface. In addition to many blood-vessels—little veins and arteries—the skin contains a large number of nerves, including the nerves of temperature, touch, pain, location, and numerous sympathetic nerves.

The average person possesses about seventeen square feet of skin. It is estimated that there are 2,500,000 sweat-glands in the skin. The area of the openings of all these little sweat-glands is about 11,000 square feet. That is, the body's sewer system which has its openings in the sweat-glands of the skin, if represented by a single eliminating tube with but one opening, would have an emptying or discharging surface equal to 11,000 square feet. In many parts of the body, there are as many as 2,500 little sweat pores to the square inch; while the uniting end to end of all the sweat-ducts, which are coiled up in the skin, thus making a single tube, would make a sewer more than ten miles long.

The kidney is divided into numerous compartments, each containing vast numbers of excreting tubules which are lined with epithelium, and whose general structure much resembles that of the skin. Arteries and veins are liberally supplied, and as the blood circulates through these vessels, certain poisons found in the blood stream are selected by the kidney and excreted (really secreted) through its walls into the urinary tubules, which carry the urine through the ureters to the bladder.

It has been estimated that the urinary tubules of the kidneys, if all were united end to end, would form a single drainage tube over fifteen miles in length. Just above the kidney, there is a structure called the suprarenal body, which secretes certain substances which raise and lower the blood pressure.

The Functions of the Skin and Kidneys

The healthy skin is warm to the touch, slightly moist or oily, elastic, free from eruptions, and reacts promptly to rubbing or cold water. The skin is one of the important organs of the body, and should be regarded as a functionating organ, and not as a mere protective covering. Owing to its rich supply of blood-vessels and nerves, it exerts a powerful influence upon the body for health or disease.

Pale Skin

The blood-vessels of the skin can hold more than half of all the blood in the body; therefore, in all cases of pale skin, cold hands and feet, etc., the blood which properly belongs in the skin must be found in some of the internal organs, which are more or less over-distended and congested, and so it follows that the pale, anemic skin usually means congestion of some internal organ from an over supply of blood, producing inflammations, etc. The weakest organ, of course, will suffer most, and this will determine whether the individual has headache, stomach trouble, constipation, or more likely, portal (liver) congestion, resulting in biliousness, the blues, etc.

“Where the pure waters flow and the fresh breezes blow.”

Skin Nerves

The various nerves ending in the skin, make it possible, by the application of heat and cold, rubbing, etc., very wonderfully to control the circulation of the blood in the internal organs. This is possible because of the fact that certain parts of the skin are supplied by nerves coming from the same centers that also send nerves to certain internal organs. Thus the skin comes to be a sort of keyboard, by which the physician may operate and control the internal mechanism of the body, to regulate the circulation of the blood, etc. This is the basis for the modern scientific use of water and other forms of heat and cold in the treatment of diseases.

Sunburn

The skin, when long exposed to the direct rays of sunlight, reacts to the chemical rays of the sunshine by producing a mild condition of inflammation, commonly called sunburn. The skin which is sunburned, or thoroly tanned, has a better circulation of blood through it than the white, pale skin of sedentary persons and those who live indoors.

The outer, horny layer of the skin is constantly dying and must be removed by bathing and rubbing. It is for the removal of these dead scales of the skin that animals go in quest of the "rubbing-post." This is the purpose of daily grooming the horse. It is certainly true that some men take better care of their horses' skins than they do of their own. The skin must also be frequently washed for the purpose of keeping the surface clean, and removing the poisonous excretions which are emptied out upon its surface by the myriads of sweat-glands.

Kidneys

The kidneys, in the excretion of urine, present a problem difficult of solution. The kidney cells seem to possess a power of selection that borders close on intelligence. They select certain substances from the blood and pass them through their walls out into the urinary canals. Other substances which are useful to the body are untouched. Again, the kidney will not secrete sugar found in the blood until it reaches a certain per cent—an amount harmful to the body—and then it begins the energetic secretion of sugar through the urine. As in the case of the salivary and other digestive glands, the kidneys present a problem in secretion that is not wholly explained by the principles of either physics or chemistry.

The kidneys excrete a portion of the water contained in the blood, in the effort to keep the blood at the proper consistency. They maintain the balance in the water supply of the body; consequently the more one sweats, the less urine will be passed. A decrease in the amount of water drunk will also decrease the urine. The color of the urine varies from day to day. In health it is something of a straw-color. Urinary deposits, as ordinarily observed, are meaningless. They sometimes represent grave disease; but, on the other hand, healthy urine, if allowed to stand when containing certain elements, will present deposits of a brick-dust appearance.

The kidneys are greatly injured and overworked by the eating of too much protein — such substances as meat, dried beans, and cheese. Protein ashes must be eliminated through the kidneys. Alcohol, tobacco, and other narcotics also greatly overtax and prematurely wear out the kidneys. Bright's disease is a state where these organs have been long overworked, inflamed, and are so worn out as the result of abuse, that they refuse to do their normal work.

Failure to drink regularly a proper amount of water, allows the urine to become high-colored and concentrated; this is very irritating to the kidneys, and no doubt results in more or less injury to these organs. The health of the kidneys, therefore, depends upon the cultivation of the regular water-drinking habit.

"Just Tobacco"

By Christian Guardian

A CIGAR never hurt any one if it was left alone.

The unselfish tobacco-user has yet to be born.

One pipeful of tobacco can destroy the comfort of 100, yes, perhaps of 500, no-tobacco users.

If your dog started to use tobacco, you would probably shoot him.

If your wife or sister started to use it, you would probably be disgusted; but yourself — ah! that's different.

One smoker makes many; and not one is improved in the making.

Your tobacco costs you more than the money you pay for it. Impaired health, lessened labor power, waste of time, loss of will-power, diminished Christian influence, — these are some of the things tobacco costs some of its users.

Jerry McAuley claimed that no drunkard ever reformed permanently unless he abandoned the use of tobacco.

The church is too sacred to be fouled with tobacco smoke; so is the home; while the body of man is more sacred than either.

If your body really belongs to God, can you consistently put a pipe between your teeth, or fill your mouth with the poisonous weed?

Don't whine when you are hit. Don't hide behind some other man. Don't plead weakness. Face your foe — and fight it.

You can quit if you will. It isn't easy, but it is possible.

The theory that cigaret-smoking will injure a boy, but pipe-smoking will not hurt a grown man, somehow does not sound quite logical.

The parents who wish their boy to follow their example by learning to use the weed, are very few in number.

Abstinence Absolutely Safe

Gen. Fred Grant tells us that in early life, because of the greatness of his father, he had an unusually large number of invitations to drink. He says: "I tried to drink with extreme moderation, because I knew that alcohol is the worst poison a man can take into his system; but I found out it was an impossibility to drink moderately. For that reason I became an absolute teetotaler—a crank, if you please. When a man can say, 'I never drink,' he never has to drink, is never urged to drink, never offends by not drinking."

For Sale

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LIBERTY

By Editor

THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF

THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BUREAU

An illustrated, 48-page, quarterly magazine, published as an exponent and advocate of true religious liberty; defending Christianity and the rights of conscience; upholding the Bible as the infallible word of God; recognizing the church and state as ordained of Heaven for specific and distinct purposes, but vigorously protesting against the alliance of the church with the state in the attempt to advance religion and to promote the state.

Price 25 cents per year. Liberal terms to agents.

Address, LIBERTY, Takoma Park, D. C.

Life and Health

By Editor

A PRACTICAL health journal, published with a view of meeting hygienic needs in every home; teaching how to care for the health and how to preserve life; prescribing simple home treatments to assist nature in throwing off diseases rather than adding more poison by using drugs or unnatural stimulants as remedies; teaching how to avoid disease as far as possible, how to manage in the home when sickness does come, and how to combat the disease by simple remedies which nature provides.

Send for sample copy and special rates to agents. Price 10 cents per copy or $1.00 per year.

Address, LIFE & HEALTH, Takoma Park, D.C.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

By Editor

Three months ....................................... $0.50 Six months ............................................ .90 One year (50 numbers) ............................. 1.75

One new yearly subscription and one renewal, or two new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $3.00.
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Three new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or four new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $5.00.

Sample copies sent on application. Weekly and Monthly SIGNS one year, combined, $2.25.

DATE OF EXPIRATION

By C. H. Jones

The SIGNS wrapper bears date of last issue due on your subscription. Unless renewed in advance, paper stops with expiration date.

If herewith is an order-blank, you will know you have overlooked sending renewal. You will not wish to miss a single issue. Back numbers often can not be furnished.

C. H. Jones, Circulation Manager.

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Good Names Encourage Good Character

“GIVE a boy a good name, whether he deserves it or not. Almost, without knowing it, that boy will try to live up to it, and to respond to tactful encouragement. The experiment is well worth trying.”

Farmers Encouraged by Seedtime and Harvest

FARMERS, do not be discouraged by failure, the sunshine is on our side. We are promised a seed-time and harvest while the world remaineth.—Town and Country.

Enforcing the Sunday Law

A despatch from Topeka to the Portland Oregonian under date of April 14 declares that Mayor Billard of Topeka, Kan., is bound to enforce Sunday law to the fullest. He declares that the preaching of a sermon on Sunday for pay or the singing in a church choir for compensation or the playing of the church organ for money constitutes a breaking of Topeka's anti-labor law just as much as does the running of theaters. And he also calls attention to the operation of the street-cars, open drug stores, cigar stores, soda fountains, etc. He says, "The best way to get an obnoxious law repealed is to enforce it to the letter, and that is what I intend to do with the Sunday anti-labor law." And why not? One chooses rest one way, one another. Why should civil law discriminate? As to keeping a day holy, that lies between man and God.

Covering Up Iniquity

An Eastern paper declares that the machine men in the Senate at Albany, New York, have served notice that there is to be no house cleaning there. Some of the investigations have stirred up scandals that are notorious; but it is said that there will be no thorogoing inquiry, and these scandals will not be sifted to the bottom. That is about the way that most of the investigations turn out. When they are followed to their source, they are generally found to involve so many friends or acquaintances of the investigators or prominent men, that the investigation is stopped. Things are quieted, iniquity is covered up, and conscience is more and more benumbed.

Truly the ancient prophet characterized this time in the following words: "Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently: the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together. [The Common Version reads, "So they wrap it up."] The best of them is as a brier; and the most upright is as a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity."

Sometime God will reckon; and when that time comes, there will be no appeal from the decision. Sometime God will reveal the iniquity; and at that time, unless that iniquity is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, it will be made visible to all the world.

Holiness of the Heart

Holiness is of the heart, not of the letter. Jesus kept holy the Sabbath. So have many others. But they have not thus kept the day because of law enforcement. Love can not be compelled or coerced. If one half the effort and agony put forth for Sunday laws were used to convert men to God, true reform would be mightily advanced.

God's Love and Salvation

If God so loved the world in sin that He gave His only-begotten Son, will He not save those who break from sin and come to Him for succor? The giving of His Son is an eternal pledge of His love. He invites the sinner to come to Him not to be disappointed, but to be saved.

New Articles

By Editor

We call attention to a little article in our editorial columns entitled "The Second Coming of Christ." It is the first of a series of short articles bringing out clear Bible evidence concerning Christ's coming. Following that article, will be the following:

"Death as the Second Coming of Christ;" "The Outpouring of the Spirit as the Second Coming of Christ;" "The Enlightenment of the New Age, the Second Coming of Christ;" "Modern Spiritism as the Second Coming of Our Lord;" "Christian Science as Christ's Second Coming."

Following these articles, will be some significant signs of His coming which are widely talked of at the present time:

"Elijah the Prophet;" "Speaking with Tongues;" "The Conversion of the World;" "The Return of the Jews."

These are all live and important topics, and we ask our readers to pass them on.

Plague Threatened by Infected Ground Squirrels

"American Medicine," New York, declares that there is great danger of the plague's becoming endemic in America, and perhaps out of that, epidemic. It says that the ground-squirrels have become infected, and that there is great danger of its spreading through them to the East. The only question is whether the squirrels will die off so quickly as to prevent the germs' being carried, or whether they have sufficient vitality so that the germs themselves will be destroyed without killing the squirrels. All this, the article tells us, might have been prevented. It remarks: "San Francisco's labor-unions elected to the mayoralty a fiddler who has since been sent to prison for crimes connected with his administration. It was he, who, at the probable instigation of certain business men afraid of publicity, not only denied the presence of plague in the city, but punished those who said there was. At the very time that well-directed efforts would have completely destroyed the infection, it was concealed and allowed to spread until it began killing the inhabitants."

One Law, One Remedy

Sin is the transgression of but one law—the moral law of God's universe. The one remedy for sin is found in the one Saviour Jesus Christ.

Nevada, the Divorce Colony

Special effort is being put forth in Nevada to close up that state as the country's divorce colony. The conditions are getting to be unbearable.

The Coudrey Sunday Bill

By Editor

We have received from Mr. W. A. Colcord, corresponding secretary of the Religious Liberty Association, a brief on the Coudrey, District of Columbia, base-ball bill. It certainly presents some very cogent reasons as to why the bill should not pass, pointing out the inconsistencies of it,—a characteristic of Sunday laws in general.

A Rose That Bears Fruit

Prof. Hugo H. Lilienthal, of Berkeley, connected with the Horticultural Society, announces that he has at last been able to create a rose which will not only bear beautiful blossoms, but will at the same time produce a large, delicious fruit or berry of exquisite flavor and of great nutrition. It is of such a distinct variety that he has not yet named it.

Speed Madness at Daytona

The most rapid traveling that was ever essayed by any human invention which could carry people was by Barney Oldfield at Daytona, Florida, recently when he drove his two hundred horse-power motor-car a mile in 27.23 seconds, or at the rate of 131.7 miles per hour. The New York World truly characterizes it as “an exhibition of speed madness, a perilous undertaking in folly, destitute of practical importance, distinguished only by the thrill and the new figures.”

The Orient Transcontinental Railway

A new transcontinental railway is projected, but it does not run parallel with the other great transcontinental lines. It has for its eastern terminal Kansas City, and for its western, Topolobambo, Mexico. It is the shortest line between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean—518 miles shorter than the Union Pacific, and 700 miles shorter than the Burlington or Rock Island road. The new railroad is called the Orient. The cost of the road it is said will be much less per mile than any of the other great roads.

"A Terrifying Spectacle."

By Editor

The Christian Advocate well characterizes the investigation in the New York Legislature and the crimes which have been unearthed in connection with the municipal government of Pittsburg as "a terrifying spectacle." And what makes it more terrifying is the expression which crops up in connection with these revelations, "They all do it." And the editor declares, "'They all do it' is the most poisonous phrase that human lips can utter, that human ears can hear." And that is true when it is used as an excuse for yielding to temptation. Exposure a few years ago brought everlasting disgrace; exposure at the present time seems hardly to affect one's standing in society, especially if he be wealthy.

Socialists Capture Milwaukee

By Editor

The Socialists have at last a limited opportunity to demonstrate what can be done in government. They have carried Milwaukee by a sweeping victory. Both of the leading parties were so divided among themselves that the people seemed to be disgusted, and elected a Socialistic mayor and the large majority of the council. Of course they will be limited more or less by the city charter and laws, but they determine to do their best. The name of the mayor is Emil Seidel.

Sunday Sabbath and Human Law

Why will men presumably versed in the Scriptures call Sunday the Sabbath? Why will they make a plea for Sunday laws on the ground that God commanded that day, when they know He did not? And even tho God did command Sunday, why should there be a law to enforce the day? God has commanded men everywhere to repent. Why not enforce repentance? God has enjoined faith. Why not enforce belief? The Lord's Supper is a divine institution. Why not compel its observance? All these can be enforced by law as well as can the Sabbath. Because God's command is not merely a forbidding to work upon a day; it is that man shall keep holy a holy day. No human law can make a day holy, or enforce its observance. Only holy men can keep a holy day holy.

The Boy Jesus as He Might Have Been in Nazareth