Vitality Supreme | Page 4

nervous system should be regarded as the real center of life, but the
function of the heart, the marvelous muscle-pump, is so vital and
indispensable that the world is accustomed to thinking of it as the organ
of first importance. And so it is. Should it cease its efforts for a few
moments even, life becomes extinct, and you are no longer an animate
being. A strong heart, therefore, is if anything even more important
than a strong stomach. But you must remember that the strength of the
heart to a large extent depends upon the cooperation of a strong
stomach, or at least upon the proper digestion of food. For the muscles
and tissues of the heart, like those of all other organs of the body, are
fed by the blood, which depends for its life-giving and life- sustaining
qualities upon the food, which is first acted upon by the stomach and
thus made available for use by the cell structures in all parts of the body.
The heart is truly a wonderful organ, the one set of muscles which
apparently never rest, but work on night and day, year after year,
throughout our entire life.
Furthermore, the part played by the lungs in the maintenance of life and
health cannot be underestimated. Impaired functioning of the lungs has
an immediate and vital effect upon every other part of the body. It is
through this channel that we secure the oxygen, without which the
processes of life would terminate almost instantaneously. It is through
this channel also that the elimination of carbonic acid gas is
accomplished. Without the continuous and thorough elimination of
carbonic acid our tissues would become choked up and poisoned in
such a way that all cell activity and bodily function would come to an
abrupt end. If the lungs are sound and healthy in every respect the
supply of oxygen is abundant, and the elimination of carbonic acid,
which may be regarded as the "smoke" of the human system, is carried
on perfectly. Breathing is only one of the various functions that must be

continuously carried on, but it is of such importance as to require
special attention in building vitality.
In the work of eliminating impurities and keeping the system clean the
kidneys are to be classed with the lungs, although they have to do with
poisonous wastes of a different type. Insufficient functioning of the
kidneys is not so immediately fatal as the failure of the lungs to do their
work, but proper action of the kidneys is none the less important. If the
poisons which are normally eradicated from the system in this way are
allowed to remain or to accumulate, they poison the body as truly as
any external toxic element that could be introduced. Insufficient
activity of the kidneys leads to the accumulation of those poisons,
bringing on convulsions of the most serious nature, and unless the
condition is relieved there will be fatal results. The requirements of
health, therefore, demand that the kidneys should be strong and active,
and that their functional capacity should be maintained at the highest
degree of efficiency.
In supplementing the work of the kidneys and the lungs, the excretory
function of the skin is only secondary in importance. The skin has
various functions. It is one of our chief organs of sense, the sense of
touch being hardly second to those of sight and hearing. It is likewise a
wonderful protective structure, and at the same time is a channel of
elimination which cannot be ignored with impunity. To interfere with
the eliminative function of the skin by absolutely clogging the pores for
a period of several hours means death. One may say that we really
breathe through the skin.
The importance of all these functions of elimination is vital. Pure blood
depends upon the perfect and continuous excretion of the wastes
formed in the body through the processes of life, and without keeping
the blood pure in this manner the body rapidly becomes poisoned by its
own waste products, with the result that health, vitality and even life
are lost. Health is entirely a question of pure blood, and, while the
blood depends first upon the building material supplied through the
digestive system, it also depends equally as much upon functional
activity in the matter of elimination.

The liver, which enjoys the distinction of being the largest organ in the
body, is designed for the performance of a multiplicity of functions. It
not only produces the bile, which has such an important part to play in
the work of digestion, but it has a very important work in the changing
of foods absorbed into such material as may be assimilated or used by
the cells of the various tissues throughout the body. For instance, it