Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-23
THIRST IN HOT CLIMATES.
Alcohol and Tobacco Promote IT
Hints to Soldiers.


From the Hospital
Preach as we will on sanitary questions,
teach our soldiers as carefully as we like
that muddy water or water that has been
exposed to risk Of pollution must at every
sacrifice be rigidly avoided. in practice all
these maxims are thrown to the winds. In
the presence of thirst all men are equal,
and We see the educated and the uneducat-
ed alike obeying one common and frresiSt-
BILE impulse. which drives them TO drink the
poison which a little later lays them low
with typhoid and dysentery. OF all meas
ures for the prevention of disease among
troops. by far the most effectual would De
the prevention of thirst, II that were posi-
BILE, and we need not be surprised that. both
for this reason and because thirst Is one
of the most miserable of fortunes, inquiries
are continually made as to how 1t can be
best prevented and how best it can be re-
leved.
In seeking a solution of this important
problem the first thing to remember is
that thirst is not mere desire of the lips
or mere craving OF the stomach. Thlrst
is want arising in every corner of the
organism from every tissue being deprived
of some of the water which is an essential
element in its normal constitution. Putting
on one side. then, such trivial methods as
pebble sucking, spice eating, and so on.
which act merely by preventing dryness of
mouth. real thirst can only be relieved by
water. and in whatever form the drink Is
taken by which it is al.eviated 1t is the
water which 1t contains. and the water
alone, that is effectual. Again. the only
way to prevent thirst is to avoid undue loss
of the watery constituent of the blood.
Practically, then, the problem is reduced
to this, how best to prevent undue loss of
water from the system?'
Over the loss of water by the lungs we
have no control. Over that by the skin we
can exert some influence by care as to
clothing and to drink. The more men
drink the more they perspire; and if they
obey their natural impulses in this regard
they are sure to lose far more water
through the skin than is at all necessary.
1t is the loss of water by the kidneys. how
ever, that is the most under a mans con-
troll, and what we wish especially to insist
upon is that alcoholic drinks, in conse-
quence of their diuretic action, are very in
effectual thirst quenchers They relieve for
time. but by their action the kidneys
they remove almost as much fluid as they
add. that the condition of the blood is
very rapidly brought back to what it was
before. or even made worse than ever.
Universal experience enforceS the lesson
that, however comforting at the time, alco-
hol produces thirst especially when much
physical exertion is being made. 1t takes
out as much as it puts III, and certainly
should not be drunk when economy in fluid
is essential.
Another and most important cause of
Wastefai eNcretion of fluids from the body
Is Impotence of the earlier and bearable
degrees of thirst The human body must
form the necessary excretions. Nature,
however. with her usual liberality. has ar
ranged for the watery fluids required for
this purpose to be secreted in far greater
quantity than is absolutely necessary. and
much of this excess of secretion ceases
when less fluid is taken into the system.
I unfortunately, the same water starvation
which diminShes eXcretion also produces a
sense of thirst. and many a man who is
impatient of this discomfort and tries to
check 1t by constant slipping might as we'll
empty his water bottle onto the road No
man can exert himself in a hot country
without becoming parched, and this early
thirst must be put up with when the water
supply Is limited. Any attempt to really
STAKE II merely leads to a wasteful passage
OF mud through the system
laen about tobacco. Smoking is probably
not IN essence such thirsty proceeding as
sotGe people imagine. Habit has much to
do with the drinking with which it l.; often
acc"!G4anie:.. Still. tobacco should NOT he
lndulged In during the early hours of the
march. There can be no doubt that it en-
ab!cs men to bear fat;gues and discom-
foFts which without it would be found al
most nnendurabic. and. among other things
TO put up with the miseries of thirst. Rut
the very efficacy of tobacco for this purpose
makes II all the more desirable to keen il
back until it is really wanted