Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-12
WHY WE WANT WATER
BY DIR. EDWIN e. SLOSSON
(Science Service)


This is the season of the year when we
appreciate the fact that our bodily sub
stance is mostly composed OF water: Lucky
for us that it is, for water is not only the
most abundant, but the most even tenn.
pered of liquids. 1t is sloWest to
cool and, what is Of more interest
just now, it is slowest to heat. IL is TINS
thermal conservation OF water, otherwise
known as its specific heat that Keeps us
going regardless of the weather. For we
can only live within the narrow range of
two degrees Fahrenheit, and it requires
delicate adjustment of the mehcnanlsm to
maintain that temperature US we roam
from the equator to the pole, or as the
climates of these regions alternately roam
over those of us who live in the north in
temperate zone.
1t is water that keeps all parts OF the
body at the same temperature in all wealth
ers by circulation, ard then In hot weather
like this reduces the temperature by evap-
grafton. So as man on a pleasure excur-
sion has to put a bill into his pocket from
time to time to compensate for the sum I'M
percentibly evaporated in small change, so
we require frequent invoices of water to
keep up with the increasing retail outgo.
The body IL summer time is steam en-
CINE, constantly taking advantage of the
high rate of exchange between liquid and
gas.
For water is twice blessed It gives a
blessing as it comes and as it goes. And
the latter is the greater, though we are not
so grateful for it. We appreciate the cool
ness of glass Of ice water, but it does us
fifteen times as much good afterward as 1t
escapes through a million pores. A cup
of hot tea also may cool us off, for 1t takes
away with it in evaporation from the skin
fifty times as much, heat as It brought to US.
Water is really what is wanted, although
we add various flavors, call it by various
names, and charge various prices for It,.
And it does not matter much what its initial
temperature is it will serve it's purpose just
the same. The only important thing is to
get enough of it at all times, before meals,
after meals, between meals and at meals.
One can hardly get too much OF 1t, but one
usually gets too little.
The regulation of the strength of the
various fluids of the body is as nicely ad.
justed as the equilibrium of temperature.
But both are dependent upon an abundant
supply of water. An excess can be easily
disposed of but efficiency upsets the ma
chinery. A pound of water day is about
what the body, can manufacture in its in
ternaI laboratory from the hydrogen OF the
food and the oxygen Of the air, but this Is
not nearly enough - run 1T. The automo.
bilist cools down his combustion cylinder
by wrapping it with water and keeping this
in rapid circulation. We also are propelled
by an engine using food as fuel in much
the same way and we use the same device
to prevent overheating. But we have to
evaporate the water to get the full cooling
effect and this tends to dry us up, to make
mummies of us, to leave us stranded for
want Of water.
Our thirst is thus the longing Of the salt
that Is left behind for the water that has
departed. 1t is sort of inconsistencies,
longing for an ancestral habitat For Venus
Anadyonmene is a verified myth. All life
sprang from the sea. And the tide that
GIBBS and flows through our heart is COM
posed of much the same elements as the
ocean from which it was originally dipped.