Kidney bean

“ With plants propagated by seed, and with animals, there will be little or no acclimatisation unless the hardier individuals are either intentionally or unconsciously preserved. The kidney-bean has often been advanced as an instance of a plant which has not become hardier since its first introduction into Britain. ”

“ In the Mammalia the bean shape of the kidney is fairly characteristic. In foetal life the organ is always lobulated, and this sometimes persists throughout adult life as in the ox, bear, seal and whale. ”

“ All Beans like a somewhat loamy soil, which, to secure good crops, must be deeply worked and heavily manured. The Kidney Beans, dwarf and tall, however, do not care for so heavy a soil as the Broad and Long-podded kinds; and this fact should be borne in mind when selecting their respective situations. The term Kidney is generally applied to both the Dwarf or French and the Climbing or Scarlet Runner. ”

“ The kidneys may be irritated by feeding green vegetables covered with hoar frost or by furnishing an excess of feed rich in phosphates (wheat bran, beans, peas, vetches, lentils, rape cake, cottonseed cake) or by a privation of water, which entails a concentrated condition and high density of the urine. Exposure in cold rain or snow storms, cold drafts of air, and damp beds are liable to further disorder an already overworked or irritable kidney. Finally, sprains of the back and loins may cause bleeding from the kidneys or inflammation. ”

“ In the same way the kidneys can also be kept in good condition if too much meat be not taken. These eliminate the end-products of meat food, and the more of such products that pass through the kidneys, the more of them are taken from the blood and excreted by means of the fine epithelia of the kidney tubules, and thus the more is the work done by these organs; and we have mentioned that any overwork of an organ may be followed by its exhaustion. ”

“ Kidneybeans are of two quite distinct kinds. The dwarf kidneybeans are annuals, which should be sown in drills about two feet apart, the first or second week in May; but the scarlet runners are perennials, the seed of which should be sown two or three inches asunder, and very lightly covered; and the rows should at least be three feet apart. The plants will require sticks like peas. Kidneybeans are generally eaten in England only in an unripe state, the pods being eaten as well as the seeds; the ripe seeds are, however, commonly eaten in France under the name of haricots blancs. ”

“ It is probable that the remedy proposed, containing, it is asserted, a mixture of foreign proteins, might injure healthy kidneys, to say nothing of sick ones. It is well known that foreign proteins, such as the white of egg, if they enter the circulation unchanged, are excreted by the kidney and are liable to produce serious irritation, which in the case of parenchymatous nephritis might easily aggravate the existing condition and frustrate all other efforts at a cure. ”

“ The possession of typically healthy kidneys is a rare circumstance in this climate. The excessive micturition so universal in infancy, occasioned by excess in diet, is the beginning of renal disease.
Dr. Bright immortalized his name by discovering the fact that, when a man’s last sickness is attended with a certain class of symptoms, as albumen in the urine, final suppression of the urine, and uremic poisoning, they are occasioned by a peculiar disease or degeneration of the kidney. ”

“ After the blood has passed through the glomeruli of the kidneys it is purer than in any other place in the body, because, before coming there, it lost a large part of its burden of carbon dioxide in the lungs. After leaving the kidney it has lost much of its nitrogenous waste. So dependent is the body upon the excretion of its poisonous material that, in cases where the kidneys do not do their work properly, death may ensue within a few hours. ”

“ Method.—Skin the kidneys, cut them in halves lengthwise, run small skewers through them to keep them flat, and season them with salt, pepper, and a few grains of cayenne. Mix the lemon rind and a little salt and pepper with the egg, dip in the kidneys, and roll them in breadcrumbs. Have ready a little hot butter in a frying-pan, and fry them lightly and quickly, cooking the cut side first. Trim the toast to a size slightly larger than half a kidney, spread with a thin layer of curry-paste, dish the croûtes upon them, and serve as hot as possible. ”

“ In work oxen, however, such concretions may give rise to symptoms of kidney disease, such as stiffness of the loins, shown especially in the acts of rising or turning, weakness of the hind parts when set to pull a heavy load, an irritability of the kidneys, shown by the frequent passage of urine in small quantity, tenderness of the loins, shown when they are pinched or lightly struck, and it may be the passage of blood or minute gritty masses with the urine. ”

“ Cattle in the swill stables of breweries and distilleries are the subjects of a constant renal congestion and polyuria, which, however, does not prevent rapid fattening. This diet, however, 215unfits the animal for a future vigorous life, and any concurrent injurious influence may easily bring on active kidney disease. ”

“ On standing, the colour changes very considerably, in consequence of the pigment becoming slowly oxidized by its exposure to the air. When there is a very great excess of bile pigment present in the blood, the kidneys have some difficulty in eliminating it. Occasionally even, it chokes up the renal capillaries, and thereby complicates the jaundice by inducing secondary disease in the kidney. ”

“ If therapeutic measures are desirable for valuable animals, they should follow the same lines as for sheep: rest, fomentations, aqueous food, anodynes, weak alkaline diuretics, laxatives, and balsams.
CONGESTION OF THE KIDNEYS IN CARNIVORA. Causes: acrid diuretics, loss of kidney, catheterization, dermatitis, burns, traumas, overexertion. Lesions: enlarged, blood-gorged kidney, red or black, petechiated. Symptoms: stiff, arched, tender loins, tardy, dragging of hind limbs, urine passed often, clear to bloody, albuminous, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhœa, dullness, stupor. ”

“ The length of the loins in cattle predisposes these parts to mechanical injury, and in the lean and especially in the thin, working ox the kidney is very liable to suffer. In the absence of an abundance of loose, connective tissue and of fat, the kidneys lie in close contact with the muscles of the loins, and any injury to them may tend to stretch the kidney and its vessels, or to cause its inflammation by direct extension of the disease from the injured muscle to the adjacent kidney. ”

“ The presence of albumin in quantities greater than 0.5 gramme to the liter is of grave import, and denotes important change in the kidneys. Smaller quantities, or just a trace, may not be of great importance. Traces of albumin occur from a great number of causes, and are often due to the passage of toxic products through the kidney which this organ eliminates, as one of its main functions is to eliminate toxic products from the body. ”

“ Like all young meat, veal turns very quickly, therefore it never should hang more than two or three days. In choosing veal always examine the suet under the kidney; if this be clammy and soft, with a faint odor, the meat is not good, and always reject any that has greenish or yellowish spots about it. The head should be clean skinned and firm, the eyes full and clear, the kidneys large and well covered with fat, the liver a rich dark clear color, free from any spots or gristle, while the sweetbreads should be firm, plump, of a delicate color, and free from strings. ”

“ The consumption of excessive and unnecessary amounts of proteid food simply means the ultimate formation of just so much more urea, uric acid, etc., which must be passed out through the kidneys. In the words of Bunge, “There is no organ in our body so mercilessly ill treated as the kidneys. The stomach reacts against overloading. The kidneys are obliged to let everything pass through them, and the harm done to them is not felt till it is too late to avoid the evil consequences.” ”

“ Though we are inclined to think that any real knowledge of renal disease is quite modern, and above all has come since Bright’s time, this paragraph of Ardern’s shows how long before definite pathological knowledge had developed, careful clinical observation worked out empirically the indications of the affection. The paragraph is of special interest, because it contains the first reference to the possible danger that there may be for sufferers from kidney disease using the dark or red meats rather than the white meats. ”

“ Kidneys [38] should never be cooked rapidly, and those persons who cannot eat them slightly underdone should forego them. One kidney dressed as directed in the following recipe will go as far as two cooked in the ordinary manner—an instance, if one were needed, of the economy of well-prepared food.
Choose fine large kidneys, skin them and cut each the round way into thin slices: each kidney should yield from ten to twelve slices. Have ready a tablespoonful of flour highly seasoned with pepper and salt and well mixed together ”

“ Persons troubled with kidney difficulty should abstain from sugar and the things that are converted into sugar in digestion, such as starchy food and sweet vegetables.
SORE THROAT.
Everybody has a cure for this trouble, but simple remedies appear to be most effectual. Salt and water is used by many as a gargle, but a little alum and honey dissolved in sage tea is better. An application of cloths wrung out of hot water and applied to the neck, changing as often as they begin to cool, has the most potency for removing inflammation of anything we ever tried. ”

“ In the choice of this meat, one of the best indications is that the kidney be covered with a white dense fat.
The loin may be known by smelling under the kidney, which always taints first, and becomes putrescent, and the fat in that case loses its firm consistence. The leg may be known by the joint, which if it be limp, and the flesh clammy, with green or yellow spots, is unfit for use.
The head, if new and sweet, must have the eyes plump and lively, but if they are sunk or wrinkled, it is not good. ”

“ Have some tea, and give me another kidney —two, I think. What happens to the sheep after they take its kidneys out? Do you suppose it dies? I wonder if they put india-rubber kidneys in. Kidneys do come from sheep, don't they? Or is there a kidney tree? Kidneys look like a sort of mushroom, and I suppose the bacon is the leaves, Kidnonia Baconiensis; now you're doing Latin, Chesterford, as you used to at Eton. I daresay you've forgotten what the Latin for kidneys is. I should like to have seen you at Eton, Chesterford. ”

“ The diet must be of such a nature as not to increase the work of the kidneys. For the first few days the animal should receive very little feed or water. Later a sloppy diet of sweet milk, green feed and mashes should be fed. Such purgatives as aloes and Glauber's salts are indicated at a very early stage in the disease. We must encourage the elimination of waste products by way of the skin in the larger animals by vigorous rubbing, blanketing and the administration of such drugs as pilocarpine. If the animal becomes weak, general and heart tonics may be given. ”

“ No alcohol should be served on the table of a patient with kidney disease. The exceptions must be prescribed by the physician. The same applies to all new wines and beef soups.
The following dishes are permitted: Among meats, white meat (about 200 grams per day, preferably at noon) . This comprises domestic fowl, fresh pork, lamb and veal, also beef, especially boiled beef. As a variety from time to time, mutton and fresh fish.
The preferable way to prepare dishes for patients suffering from kidney diseases, is to boil them ”

“ Usually it is solitary, and occupies one of the kidneys coiled upon itself. Under its influence the kidney is atrophied and reduced to the condition of a capsule of connective tissue, often containing bony spicules. It feeds on blood and on the purulent matter resulting from the inflammation it produces. The worm is occasionally found in other positions, as the mesentery, the abdominal cavity, the intestine, liver, urinary bladder, and lungs, but perhaps in most of these cases has been derived from its usual habitation. ”

“ Boiling water poured on bees (workers) when newly killed makes bee-tea, which may be taken to relieve strangury, and a difficult passage of urine, as likewise for dropsy of the heart and kidneys. Also of such bees when dried and powdered, thirty grains will act as a dose to promote a free flow of the urine.
Honey, especially if old, will cause indigestion when eaten by some persons, through an excessive production of lactic acid in the stomach; and a superficial ulceration of the mouth and tongue, resembling thrush, will ensue ”

“ The mutual influence of the kidneys and other important organs tends to explain the way in which disease in one part supervenes on preexisting disorder in another. The introduction of albuminoids in excess into the blood means the formation of an excess of urea, and a more profuse secretion of urine, of a higher specific gravity, and with a greater tendency to deposit its solid constituents, as gravel, in the kidneys or bladder. ”