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The condition termed auto-intoxication may be induced by many different factors, among which may be mentioned the products of intestinal putrefaction (Senator^[20]) and the waste products from the processes of oxidation, such as uric acid, for example. Animal food is more apt to produce intestinal putrefaction than any of the various other foodstuffs.

There are three important organs which protect us against such a condition of auto-intoxication; these are the kidneys, liver, and thyroid, and possibly also the parathyroids.

The kidneys act by promptly eliminating such toxic products in the urine. They are glands with internal secretion, as shown by the experiments of Brown-Séquard,^[21] E. Meyer,^[22] and clinical observations of Senator^[23] and H. Strauss.

The liver, which, according to Gilbert, H. Strauss,^[24] and others, is also a gland with an internal secretion, is strongly antagonistic to intestinal poisons. It destroys toxic products brought to it from the intestine through the portal vein, and several authors, Professor Adami, Sir Lauder Brunton and Bokenham,^[25] show that it is also able to eliminate such products with the bile after previous transformation. We will treat of these protective functions of the liver in a separate chapter, together with the hygienics of this important organ; but we will just mention here that the liver plays a great rôle in the transformation of the toxic end-products of albuminous food into harmless substances, such as urea.