Los Angeles herald., 1905-04-09
Can Water
Be Abused?

When the hungry farm hand was
asked what he would choose to eat
and in replying said that he did not
care so long as there was enough Of
everything on hand, he was tackling
! the question from a purely practical
side. It was the simple Interpretation
of natures need. II he had been
equally thirsty he certainly would not
have. stopped to inquire whether or
no a good long drink Of water would
do him harm,
So 1t must be with others who in
sist that healthy appetites must be
satisfied in spite of the ever-changing
theories on dietetics and in opposition
to the halr-splitting arguments con-
cerning the purely chemical reduire-
ments Of scientific nutrition.
In these days, however. when food
values are exhaustively analyzed when
the constituents of our drinking water
are measured with mathematical ao-
curacy and each chemical equivalent
of Wand and liquid is apportioned and
distributed to the complex multiple
and subtle requirements of physical
development there certainly is enoug>
of reasonable danger of overreaching
the matter to make the ordinary man
stop, think and wonder what next he
may be called to do to satisfy all the
visionary requirements of cranks and
world betterers.
Now, for instance, we are told by
certain learned doctors in conclave as
sembled that we are drinking too much
water and must modify our dangerous
habit accordingly. There is some sat-
isfaction, however, in learning that
this so-called dreadful practice is in
great part due to the doctors them
selves. One Of them is quoted as say
ing But water will be popular TIL
the patient and physician stop wor-
Shipping at the shrine of uric acid"
True enough. The few who may not
be under treatment for this now very
prevalent ailment may consider thenl-
selves reasonably safe against being
waterlogged, but the chap who must
take quart when he can only hold a
pint has right to be heard.
Water, like any other good thing,
may have its limit of usefulness. A
pailful outside may be satisfactorily
hygenic, while the same quantity inside
might be trifle distensive and en-
barrassing. In spite of what may be
said of helping so-called metabolisrl,
1t is the question of theory against
thirst, demand against supply. To
have enough and be able to stop at
the right time is the beginning of wis
dom.
1t is the proper response to physical
desire that should settle the question,
whether the man drinks water during
meals, between meals, on rising or
sitting, or on any other occasion, SO
long as he be thirsty and the draught
satisfies his yearning.
There can be no absolute standard
of quantity for any given individual
Each must be law unto himself. Con-
ditions constantly vary. An amount
for one day may be an excess for an
other. Nature has her own purposes
10 fulhll, ana she generally takes care
of herself when lelt alone. The doctors
can argue as they may on this mat
ter but the parched tongue will have
but one answer when water is near.
To take an internal bath, however,
is quite another thing. But who first
gave the victim such a notion? There
fore it is quite becoming for the doc
tors themselves to define their own
limits to their practice. Natural law
is always higher than mere scientific
theory. The thirsty man will always
drink his fill, wherever he may be.
There is only one place where SUCH q
privilege may be denied him, but no
one cares to imagine the dreadful pos
sibilities of such a direful situation.