Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-21
PHASES OF DESERT THIRST.
Terrible Experience Of Man Lost In
Wastes Of the Southwest.

from American Medicine.
OF the three types into which thirst as
pathoiogic condition has been grouped
ehat OF the desert Is most purely the depri-
walton OF moisture without the influence OF
modifying external circumstances That
form known as ordinary thirst occurs under
the favorable surroundings of. humid air
and often protection from the sun. Sea
thirst is also under the influence of air heav-
fly charged with vapor, with plenty of wa
ter though non-drinkable, at hand. and is
modified by the presence of salts exter-
nally.
In cases of desert thirst water even as
vapor. is entirely lacking, or nearly so,
and the influence of external salts Is q mini
num- Death from thirst is a horror that
has many times been described by onleok-
ers, or, paradoxially speaking, occasionally
by those who have really suffered its pangs
by going through the various stages until
Inconsistencies Is reached, but who happi-
iy. though rarely. are rescued and survive.
Never have the phenomena of extreme
thirst been pictured more graphically than
by w. ]. MCGEE. director OF the st. Louis
public museum. In a paper reporting the re-
markable survival of Mexican in south
western Arizona. This man was in the
desert eight days and nights with only one
days supply of water During that time
he rode in the saddle thirty five miles and
walked or crept between one hundred and
one hundred and fifty miles.
For seven days he was entirely without
water AS a result of the deprivation the
man lost one-fourth his body weight An
extraordinary feature was the lack Of to-
tally insane delirfum which so commonly Is
q part of the mental condition of these
persons. This allowed him to follow the
trail and accounts for his reaching aid. ale
though his phenomenal physical condition
was the real cause of survival.
The case recorded by DR. MCGEE was most
unusual In that half Of these dying from
desert thirst perish in thirty six hours,
quarter within forty-eight or fifty hours
and all others Of which the history is
Known by the eightieth hour. DR.. Nc
Gee discusses thirst in general and then In
particular desert thirst, the phenomena Of
which he arranges under three stages, nor
NAL thirst, functional arrangement and
structural degeneration.
Making up these stages are five phases,
most OF them descriptively named by sur
vivors and well known to those who fire.
cotton mouth phase, the shriveled tongue,
the blood sweat and the living death. The
first phase is relieved by water, or In some
instances fruit acids or similar substances
may be required. Thirst in the second
! phase Is best relieved by water taken by
quarts in small sips and thrown over the
body IN quantities Persons in the third
phase also require water by gallons, inside
and out. but cautiously applied. Usually
in addition febrfuge should be given and
in some a heart tonic also is indi-
Gated. Little of value may be possible for
those in the fourth phase. Water may be
a. damage. If physical recovery does oc-
cur the mental condition may never clear.
In the final phase there is no alienation
but the end Fortunately this appears often
to be painless. DR.. MCGEE has spent a
great deal of time in the deserts of the
southwest and has himself gone half
through the stages of desert thirst, and is
thus personally well qualified to speak upon
the subject.