The function and form of the bladder are familiarly known. It is the recipient of the kidney secretions, and contains them till voided to the urinary canal. It is a tough, elastic structure, guarded at the exit by a contractile file, a means of which the urine can be retained until the quantity becomes excessive. The plate brings out the entire urinal tracks, from the bladder to the vagina, and presents a fine and useful anatomical and physiological study.

Again within this section the author in his no-nonsense, concise and to the point and descriptive of process just enough, but not too much. The section is not terribly illuminating, and read somewhat like sixth grade biology report that lightly describes a topic but really doesn't tell you any useful information. The lack of information as it can to using a light bulb from a hundred years ago versus using advanced halogen light today or possibly a high-end fixture such as kichler lighting. It just wasn't a lot of information provided.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Blood-vessels of the Liver
  
  

  Blood-vessels of the Liver.  –.  The blood-vessels of the liver are the hepatic artery and veins, and the portal vein; the lymphatic vessels are numerous, and the nerves are supplied from the pneumogastric, the phrenic and the hepatic plexus.  The liver, therefore, receives two kinds of blood: the arterial, by means of the hepatic artery, and the venous, from the portal vein, from which the bile is principally formed.  The bile is a dark golden fluid, of extremely bitter taste, of which 3 pounds is secreted daily.  When not used in digestion is stored away in the gall-bladder; a fine view of the location of which we have in this chart,  the action of the bile on food, but not fully understood, is necessary for perfect digestion.

  _____

  Again there is a reference to 3 pounds daily.  So now I’m wondering if the 3 pounds of bile that our bodies are supposedly creating everyday is related to the 3 pounds of food or 3 pounds of liquid that were supposed to be consuming.  Maybe it’s half-and-half, 1 1/2 pounds of food and one half pounds of water generate 3 pounds of bile secreted from our liver.

  I wouldn’t bet your vacation home Orlando on it.  I’m also curious as to whether or not the author actually tasted bile from a liver.  In many ways I’m glad I was not a scientist a hundred or 200 years ago. . . .

• River-Water
  
  

  River-Water. — River-water is, to a certain extent, similar to Spring-water, but is much more apt to be contaminated with sand and clay, organic material from decomposing vegetable or animal remains, the refuse of manufacturers, and especially with the sewage of cities and towns, which it is probable events amounts of sickness and death are annually due in all civilized countries. Unfortunately, River-water is that which is chiefly supplied to towns and cities, and therefore find its way into the systems of vast numbers of our fellow-beings.

   

  In past sections, I have marveled at the excessive use of punctuation, but I’ve never seen the excessive use of “hyphens”. This particular section on water is absolutely rife with the excessive use of hyphens, and it is wreaking havoc on my attempt at editing. It’s almost like the author falls in love with a certain type of punctuation has a brief affair with it for a chapter or two before turning to a new punctuation.  This particular affair is driving me nuts, and I can’t wait for it to be over. If it doesn’t end soon I will probably single-handedly increase NC health insurance rates by myself.

• Effect of Metallic Impurities
  
  

  Effect of Metallic Impurities.– the effects of minute traces of metallic substances in drinking water have not yet been ascertained with sufficient accuracy, but it is quite possible that the entire sanitary condition of the district may depend in some measure on impurities of this description. Mr. Wanklyn suggests that the well-known salutary effect of what is called change of air may be, in reality, partly due to the escape from some extremely small metallic impurities in the water of the section of country from which removal takes place.

  Well today, people know that heavy metals and water can be extremely poisonous or problematic for people to consume water with these impurities in place. It is somewhat remarkable that this had not been figured out as few as 100 years ago, and that what is relatively common knowledge today was only hypothetical esoteric pseudoscience 100 years back.  It’s no wonder that so many developed countries today have so many heavy metal messes to clean up around the world.  Today people are looking for the best fat burners that they can buy so they can load up on McDonald’s french fries and eat all that they want, we’ll just a few years back they are looking for safe water to drink, and not even knowing what safe was.