organ of elimination

English

Noun

organ of elimination (plural organs of elimination)

1. (anatomy) Any bodily organ that produces or excretes waste products.
   • 1835, Human physiology, page 227:

     The delicate surface of the lungs, and, indeed, of the whole air passages, is […] also a great organ of elimination. Camphor, phosphorus, ether, diluted alcohol, gases, and various odorous substances, when introduced into the system, escape in a great measure by the lungs: whence they are perceived in the breath […]

   • 1841, Changes of the blood in disease, page 21:

     Thus in my opinion the question is decided ; the kidney is but an organ of elimination; its office in diabetes is to eliminate the sugar from the blood, as it is in health to eliminate the urea.

   • 1846, Observations on hydropathy; with an account of the principal cold water establishments of Germany, page 43:

     […] that most important organ of elimination the skin, in the glow of which, and in its cleansed pores, and promoted transpiration, an increased exhalation and excretion are obtained, through which in the course of weeks any degree of purification of the blood that may be supposed necessary, may be arrived at.

   • 1926, The Therapeutic Gazette, page 168:

     For man and animals the liver receives the food for the body: the liver is the principal organ of elimination; the liver appears to play the role of cytoplasm; it appears to be the negative pole of the organism, playing always with the positive pole—the brain.

Usage notes

Obsolete as a term in modern medicine. Used almost exclusively in alternative medicine in reference to the skin as an emunctory organ.