The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-02-20
PURE WATER POISON.
Claim Made by Medical authority
t Supported by Records.

Siaiin !iaue Dy Mciical
Supported by Records.
This is the startling proposition put
forward by DR.. Cope. in an Interesting
article in Die Deutsche Mediclnische
Wochenschrift, from which we alb
s,raet the following:
by chemically pure water we
usually understand perfectly fresh, dis
titled water, whose behavior aud prop
critics are well understood. 1t With
draws the salts from the animal tissues
and causes the latter to swell and In
iiate. Isolated living organic elements,
cells and all unicellular organisms are
destroyed in distilled water-they de-
since they become enE0rged therein.
IheS lose the faculty. upon which life
depends. Of retaining their salts and
other soluble cell constituents, and.
consequently. these are allowed to dlf-
fuse throughout the water.
Distilled water Is. therefore. dam
gerous protoplasmic poison. The same
poisonous effects must occur whenever
distilled water Is drank, The sense Of
taste Is the first TO protest against the
use OF this substance. a mouthful OF
distilled water, taken by inadpertence.
Will be spit out regularly. The water
once in the stomach, the superficial
stratum OF epithelium experiences 4
powerful distension, the cells are leach
ed by their salts. This local poison
GUS effect OF distilled water makes It.
self known by q sensation OF Hneasi-
ness, furnishing all the symptoms OF a
catarrh OF the stomach on small
scale.
.The harmfulness Of the process, 50
much resorted to to-day, of wishing
out the stomach with distilled water,
Is acknowledged, and we lHd the physi-
clans who formerly used that agent
are now turning to the physiological
solution of cooking SALT OF water with
little salt, or the mineral waters rec
commended for the purpose. The poi
sonous nature o, absolutely pure water
would surely have been recognized and
felt long since, were 1t not that It's ef-
fects in their most marked form can
seldom occur. for though Il train OF
circumstances absolutely pure water
can rarely be found. The ordinary
distilled water, even when freshly dis
titled, is not absolutely pure, while that
used In the laboratories and clinics Is
generally stale, has been kept standing
in open vessels, generally in rooms
where chemicals of every sort abound.
and whose gases and cfiluvia are taken
UP by the water .E
Water melted from natural iee,"
says Hoppe. was purer than even
boiled distilled water. Our patients
are delighted when We get for their use
this transparent and brilliant ice. and
We Gas physicians). think that surely
nothing can be safer than water melted
thcrefrom-if' the patient Is allowed to
hold bit Of ice in his mouth and swal-
low the water. II this process Is per-
mltted for any length Of time we hear
complaints OF weak stomach, catarrh
Of the stomach etc. which we must
charge up-solely in the purity OF the
water"
This explanation seems to be all
the more reasonable when patients with
hitherto perfectly healthy stomachs,
who. after operations, are for any rea-
son allowed to swallow ice pills." be-
gin to suffer, and not infrequently con-
tract catarrh of the stomach. There
are we'll known sequelae OF the use of
ice, but up to the present no reasonable
hypothesis has been offered as TO the
etiology of the same. 1t has been
charged. it is true to the "hacteriologi-
cal contents" OF the Ice. but eGamina-
ton OF the latter has demonstrated It
to be almost wholly free from BAG
terra. such as would otherwise account
for the phenomena. though otherwise
frequently obtaining bacteria. AS
remedy our clinicians say we must only
use artificial Ice. made from distilled
water.
Well, 1t Is possible that artificial Ice
may be better borne than the natural,
10 npf hananca II iS nllrpr thnn
the latter, but exactly the contrary.
1t Is simply because that the, melted
water thereof more closely approaches
our ordinary drinking water.
This point in the care of the sick.
which is certainly worthy OF an inves-
tigation, and explanation finds its
analogy in the daily experiences OF the
traveller In the high mountainous re-
gions. The guide-books warn him
against queching his thirst with snow
and glazier water. and the waters Of
the mountain brooks as well. for as Is
well known, those do not only quench
thirst but gives rise to much discom-
fort. With the greatest probability of
being correct. We may assume that
SHOW and glacier water are Of the high
est degree Of purity. approaching dis
titled water very closely, indeed, or eX
ceiling it in purity.
The harmfulness OF glacier water,
like that of the pure. cold mountain
brooks, most OF which, indeed. spring
from glaciers arises from the fact that
they are exceedingly pure waters. and
produce identically the effect OF the use
OF distilled waters-they are poisonous.
The supposition that the GOODNESS OF
water caused our sick, uneasy feelings
cannot stand for moment. though this
GOODNESS Is very probably the reason
that Its untitness for use is not at once
recognized. and the liquid rejected.
The last link in our chain OF proleogo-
mena Is found in the case OF another
Gastein springs, The water OF this
spring had an electric conductivity of
3i.a.. therefore far exceiling distilled
water in this respect. and hence. ac-
Cordlng to this proposition. Its use
should demonstrate the poisonous ma
ture of pure water. BY most strange
coincidence from the oldest times, for
hundreds and hundreds of years this
spring has been known as the Gift
brunnen-thc poison spring" Its wa
ter Is never drank. it is commonly re-
gardcd as poisonous. although no
chemical examination OF it-and they
are almost innumcrab le-has yet been
able to detect the slightest trace OF any
poisonous substance. It's poison lies In
the fact OF It's extreme purity. This.
VIC know, Is n proposition which no.
body will take in earncst-still, 1t Is de-
void OF anything wonderful In the
nbpciolnUIrol pnlpf pf N.ipw md fur-