Year: 1877

No one can exist without consuming a


certain quantity of water, which is the
essential basis of all drinks. 1t has been


calculated that the body of a man weigh


ingeleven stone contains sixty-six pounds


of solid matters and eighty-eight pounds
I of water, and that he loses in various


ways about six pounds Of water in TWEEN
I tv-four hours, and this loss of water must


be supplied in his food and drink. IN


the ordinary physioloei al processes moth
ing passes in the blood, and nothing
passes out OF it, without the nyterven-
ton, in some way or another, Of water as
a solvent 1t will thus be seen that
water plays most important part in re-
lation TO animal life and nutrition. 1t
is also the agent 10y which the body is
cleansed inwardly as well as outwardly,
and is a necessary. though not quite 70
obvious, that the interior Of our bodies
should be washed and made clean as the
exterior. In the processes of nutrition
in the physical and chemical changes
upon which life depends-efete waste
products are constantly being discharged
into the blood from the tissues of the
body, and these have to be got rid Of;
for if they are permitted to accumulate
In the blood the body becomes poisoned
sy them, and life i destroyed as certainly
as if large dose Of prussic acid or opium


were introduced from without. Men do
indeed frequently die, poisoned by toxic
agents which they manufacture within
their own organisms. One OF the uses
of water, taken into the body as bever-
age. is to dissolve these efiete products
of the work of the organism, and 80 TO
convey them out of the body through
the action of the secreting organs. Water
is readily absorbed into the blood and Is
RAPIDLY discharged from it. In its rapid
course through the body it washes,
so to speak, the circulating fluid, and
carries away, through the channels
of exertion, substances, the Teten
tion OF which in the blood would
prove in the highest degree harmful. 1t
NAV readily be imagined that pure, un-
aduIterated water performs that function
hotter than any modification of it which
we NAV drink as beverage. 1t is, how
ever. true that some slightly mineraliZed
waters pass through the organism with
even greater rapidity than pure water,
on account of the stimulating action the
most of them exercise on certain of the


xcretory organs. Mild alkaline waters
NAV also, under certain circumstances,
prove more cleansing than pure water,
on account of their greater solvent action
on some substances. The quantity of
water we need in the form of beverage
depends greatly on the nature of the
other substances we consume as food.
With dietary composed largely of sue
culent vegetables and fruit, very little of
any kind of beverage is required. Much
also depends on the manner in which our
solid food is cooked-whether, in the
case of animal food, the natural juices of
the flesh are retained in it or not much,
too, will depend on those atmospheric
and other conditions which determine
the amount of fluid lost by evaporation
from the surface of the body. The sensa.
ton of thirst is the natural warning
that the blood wants water. ] may here
remark, incidentally, that it is not a
wise custom to take excessive quantities
of any fluid, even simple water, with our
food, for by so doing we dilute too much
the digestive juices, and 50 retard their
solvent action on the solid food we have
consumed. A draught of fluid, how
ever, towards the end of digestion is often
useful in promoting the solution and
absorption of the residuum OF this pro-
cess, or in aiding its propulsion along the
digestive tube. Hence the. custom oil
taking tea few hours after dinner, or
seItzer or soda water little before bed
time.