The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-09 00:00:00

THIRST AT SEA. "<4-1

The following communication, in connection with the
sufferings of those who were rescued from the Cotpairict, has
I been sent to the Daily New:
not I

Sir,—ln reading the harrowing accounts of the late
sufferings by shipwreck, there is a point which oc-
curred to me as worthy of notice; as possibly, it may
tend to the allievation of future suffering. It was
brought to my mind by the contrast between the
experience of those who escaped from the Cospatrick
--iind that of the two-men who were exposed for three
days and nights without food in the middle of the
ocean. In the One case intense hunger and thirst
Auickly supervened; in the other neither hunger
-nor thirst was felt at all. Wonderful as was the
endurance manifisted, the human frame must, we
know, soon have succumbed in both cases; but appa-
rently with a great difference in the degree of suffer-
mu, for the two men in the ocean would have pro-
bably gone off at last into a state of torpidity. and
have suffered little more than persons who are frozen
to death. To what then are we to attribute this re-
markable difference? The subject brought to my mind
a circumstance which I had often noticed in my own
experience. When I was a boy I lived in a seaport,
and often enjoyed a dip in the sea. It waerinatter of
frequent observation to me (though I do not remember
ever having heard the same thing noticed by any one
else), that, however thirsty I might be when I went
into the water, my thirst was completely allayed when
I came out of it. I observed also that the effect was
much more complete and grateful than could have
been brought about by drinking anything whatever.
The whole system was inwardly soothed and re-
freshed by the bath, while drinking only afforded
a momentary gratification, the thirst often returning
almost immediately. I do not know whether this
effect is generally experienced, but I had a little
theory of my own about it, concluding that as the
skin is said to be absorbent the water was taken in by
it and pervaded the system, while the salt was ex-
cluded. When reading from time to time of the
sufferings of sailors from thirst, I have often won-
dered whether they had thought of taking a dip in the
sea, or of pouring plenty of seawater over their bodies
as a means of alleviating it, and whether it would have
produced the same effect as in my own case. If so
simple a remedy serves for the alleviating of such
great suffering as is oocasionally experienced from
thirst at sea, it is well that it should be known; and
we now seem to have had its efficiency brought before
us in a very strong case. It appears as if the irrita-
tion arising both from hunger and thirst may be
allayed by the absorption of water.—l am, &c.,
JoHN DINGLE.
Vicarage, Lancheater, Jan. 1.

i -q-'

.011 Yr I

A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA.
The Times of Saturday published the following com-
munication :
Sir,—Yesterday we received from the Editor of the
Advertiser newspaper, Adelaide, a letter which was
picked up in a bottle about eight miles east horn
Guichon Bay, near Adelaide, on the 9th of October
last. This letter had been placed in the bottle and
cast to the mercy of the waves by Captain Douglas,
commander of Messrs. Green's ship Malabar, from
that vessel on the 12th of December, 1872, in lat. 39
south, long. 25 east. As Guichon Bay is in about
36.30 south lat., 140 long, east, and in that parallel of
latitude the degree of longitude may be estimated at
aboutriforty-five miles, the bottle must have travelled
aboutis,2oo miles; or, presuming it had not long re-
mained on the coast undiscovered, have made the
voyage at the rate of about eight miles per day. We
send you these particulars thinking they may
prove of interest to many of your readers. The
Malabar was at the time mentioned on a voyage to
Bombay, and has now just arrived at Melbourne.—We
are, Sir, your obedient servanta, F. GREEN & CO.
112, Fenchurch-street, Jan. 1.