The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-11-12
PURE WATER AS A POISON.
Chemically Pure 1t Is Dangerous
Thing TO Take.

Philadelphia Record.
This is the startling proposition put for
in the Deutsc ReV Me1iicinische Wochen-
schrift, 1898, No. 80, from which we abstract
the following:
understand perfectly fresh, distilled water,
whose behavior and properties are well I'M
IL whdraws th me sas IRON t vJ Ie
or initiate. Isolated living organic elements,
cells. and all unicellular organisms are de-
they become engorged therein. They lose
the faculty, upon which life depends. of re-
tanning their salts and other soluble cell con-
lowed TO diffuse throughout the water.
Distilled water IS, therefore. a dangerous
rrotopasmic poison. The same poisonous
effects must occur whenever distilled water
is drunk. The sense of taste is the first TO
protest against the use of this substance.
A mOuthful of distilled water taken by in
advertence Will be spit out regularly. The
water once in the stomach. the superficial
stratum of epithelium experiences power
full distention, the cells are leached by their
salts, die, and are cast off. This local pOiS-
onous effect of distilled water makes itself
known by a sensation of uneaSiness. belch-
ing. etc. furnishing all the symptoms of
catarrh of the stomach a small scale.
The harmfulness of the process. 50 much
resorted TO to-day. Of washing out the
stomach with distilled water is acknowl-
edged, and we find the physicians who
formerly used that agent are now turning
to the physiological solution Of cooking salt.
waters recommended for the purpose. The
poisonous nature of absolutely pure water
would surely have been recognized and felt
long since were IL not that its effects, in
their most marked form, can seldom occur,
Tor through a train of circumstances alb
solutely pure" water can rarely be found
The ordinary distilled water, even when
freshly distilled, is not really 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 n "a nd
whose gases and effiuvia are taken up by
the water
Water melted from natural ice" pro-
ceeds 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 (as physicians1
think that surely nothing can be safer than
water melted therefrom-but many a belch
comes from the stomach of the patient al
lowed to hold a bit of the ice in his mouth
and swallow the water. If this process is
permitted for any length of time we hear
complaints OF weak stomach 'catarrh Of
the stomach ETC., which we must charge up
solely to the purity of the water.
And here 1t is all the worse. In the
mcuthful OF pure water taken inadvert-
OF i Taste comes to our rescue. and We spit
II out, but here the sense Of taste is be-
numbed by the cold"
Th1S explanation seems TO be all the more
reasonable when patients with hitherto
perfectly healthy Stomachs, who, after oper-
atlons, are for any reason allowed TO swal-
frequently contract catarrh of the stomach.
There are well-known sequelae of the use
OF Ice, but up to the present no reason
aole hypothesis has been offered as 10
the etiology Of the same. 1t has been
charged. 1t is true, to the ARCHAEOLOGICAL
the latter has demonstrated it to be al
most free from bacteria such as would ac-
count for the phenomena, though otherwise
frequently containing bacteria. As a rem
edy our clinicians say we must use only
ARTIFICIAL Ice made from distilled water
be better borne than the natural but il is
not because IL is purer than 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
explanation, finds its analogy in the daily
experiences Of the traveller in the high
mountainous regions Idle Hochgebirge)
The guide-books warn him against quench-
ing his thirst with snow and glacier water
and the water of the mountain brooks as
do not quench thirst but give rise to much
discomfort. With the greatest probability
OF being correct we may assume that snow
and glacier water are Of the highest degree
of purity. approaching distilled water very
closely or, indeed excelling II in purity.
that OF the pure. cold mountain brooks,
most of which, indeed. spring from gla-
ciers, arises from the fact that they Sre
exceedingly pure waters and produce iden-
tically the effect of the use of distilled
water-they are poisonous. The suppose
tion that the GOODNESS of the water causes
the sick uneasy feeling cannot stand for
moment, though this GOODNESS is very pFoba-
bly, the reason that it's unfitness for use is
not at once recognized and the liquid re-