The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-09-13
CRYSTAL WATER GOSSIP

OF course the reader knows that the
professor was wrong; that Hong Kong
is not Chinese city at all. but. an
island, under British dominion, off the
coast of China, its chief city being Vic
toria.
This little circumstance is related
merely to show how prone we are TO
Jump at conclusions, to guess at things.
SO we may be spared the labor of acquir-
ing exact knowledge, and the more guess
ing we do the more positive we generally
are in our supposed knowledge of the
matter guessed at.
Another illustration Of this sort of
knowledge is the very positive manner
in which some self-styled doctors assert
that the lime which makes water hard
was put there by nature for the purpose
of nourishing the bones. etc, of man
and the animal kingdom.
While we can turn 10 our encyclopedias
and prove the college professors guess
work to be faulty, the hard water mat
ter presents few more difficulties; but
at the same time it is by no means i'm
possible TO prove that the lime in hard
water is not necessary TO our perfect
development but on the other hand is
destructive to health. and that good dis
TILED water is the most powerful single
agent that can be employed TO restore
and maintain good health and physical
vigor.
Before passing to the proof, however,
II might be profitable to spend a moment
inquiring, first. into the opportunity that
t. csc self-styled doctors have had TO ac-
Luire any accurate knowledge in regard
10 the subject and. second, their mo-
tive for going out of their way to ad-
wise all of their friends and patients
against the use of clean water. In other
words. from whence comes this mon
Etrous proposition that filth promotes
health
We have used the term "self-styled"
doctors. because of all those that have
come to our knowledge as being very
active in pushing the anti-pure water
campaign, we have not heard a single
one named Except our good friend DR..
Shuts whose medical certificate would
bear a critical examination, or one that
we believe would be permitted TO practice
medicine in the state of Kansas if re-
quired to prove his fitness before the
state board of medical examiners.
AS to their opportunity to know, they
evidently have had none They have
probably been so dead sure that they
never considered Investigation necessary.
They are just like the college professor;
he never investigated the Hong Kong
matter because he knew it was Chinese /
city ever since he was a boy"
%As to the motive, we are forced to sus-
poet that it comes from self-interest !
Crystal Water keeps people healthy ard
q healthy patient is not apt 10 con- /
tribute his proper share toward the fund /
which these people find necessary to their 1
happiness. a healthy man is as exas-
perating to a quack doctor as red rag |
is to a bull
Then again. the two-column article |
which appeared IN this paper some time |
ago. written by our good friend DR.. |
Shuts. You don't imagine that article /
was news item. do you? If so, you had
better hunt it up and read it again. 1t /
has all the ear marks of a paid adver-
tisement. just like this is. Now, who |
on earth could have paid forty or fifty /
dollars for inserting that ad? And who /
paid DR.. Shuts for writing it? You don't /
imagine he would rack his brain to get /
up two columns Of such sophstry as that. /
besides being required to stand sponsor /
for it. all for nothing, do you? DR.. Shuts /
is a business man.
. Possibly one Of the headlines in that /
article might throw little light on the /
subject. The headline read: There's no /
Water Like Hydrant Water" That ar /
ticle was evidently intended as blow /
to the private pump.
All this is simply business. The peo- |
pie who paid for that ad have stuff to /
sell. and they are using the advertising /
lever to move their goods. They are doing |
what TO them seems best under the cir /
cumstances: but granting that they have |
expressed their honest beliefs with re-
spect to the healthfulness of their par
ucular brand of hard water. there is al
ways the chance that they may be mis-
taken and the motive back of the argu-
way modify its destructive effects Hard
water kills just the same-re regardless of
its source and regardless of the motives
that prompt its use.
We now call attention TO two quota
tons; the first showing that the minerals
in hard water are in no way necessary
10 our growth. the second showing their
destructiveness.
Prof Henry Broadhurst on page 10 of
''The Vital Question says:
we are not lodging the fact that
minerals are a necessary part of the nu-
triment supplied to the system. All
vegetables contain plenty Of mineral and
calcareous matter organized into food
material and so prepared as 10 he readily
assimilated. The food We eat. when prop
erly selected and prepared. supplies
every requisite FOR the building UP and
replenishing Of the waste tissues. In fact.
in a vast majority of cases. great deal
more nourishment is supplied than is at
all necessary. and considerable amount
is constantly being eliminated from the
system. unused. what is desirable in
water IS not that it should supply more
nourishment (Which II cannot do in any
event. but that it should furnish a con
venient vehicle for the carrying away OF
the over-supply and the waste materials
The more impuyity contained in water
as 1t enters the system. the less it can
absorb and carry of"