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Water

THE general supposition is that when water is drunk, particularly whilst fasting from food, it is taken up quickly by the absorbents from the interior of the stomach into the blood. But, as Dr. R. Hutchison now explains, it has become incontestably established as a fact that water is not absorbed by the mucous lining membrane of the stomach at all. When water enters the stomach it begins to flow out into the intestine at the other end of the stomach, into the first intestine almost at once, the process going on in little gushes through the (pylorus) outlet until all the water has escaped. Roughly speaking, one may assume that a pint of water will have entirely issued from the stomach in the space of about three quarters of an hour. Hot water escapes from the stomach much more rapidly than cold; the heat increases strongly the movements of the stomach walls, and at the same time seems to cause its outlet (pylorus) to open, this being a powerful aid to sluggish digestion. Water is exclusively absorbed into the blood from within the intestines. The statement that a free consumption of Water at meals is apt to hinder digestion by diluting the gastric juice is not well grounded. Water is but a slight excitant of gastric digestion. If it be impure contaminated water, it passes out again onwards before the antiseptic gastric juice has time to act on any noxious germs which it may contain: for which reason any such contaminated water is much more likely to convey disease into the system than is contaminated milk. This latter is detained in the stomach for partial digestion there, and its germs are more prone to be destroyed straightway. To boil water is the only way for rendering it reliably free from danger. If spirit, or wine, is added to the Water imbibed, this does not kill any germs contained therein, or make it any safer for drinking. In China, where the sewage of the densely populated country is carried off chiefly by the rivers, (so that the danger of contracting disease through drinking their water must be great), the universal use of cooked water in some form is a matter of history; and it is probable that instinct, or experience, has prompted the Chinaman to drink but very little water except that which has been cooked. The every-day national drink is weak tea, made in a large teapot, and kept in a wadded basket so as to retain the heat; the whole family use it, and the very poor drink plain hot water just tinged with tea. Dr. Dabbs has recently explained how to employ a rough but reliable extempore test in the case of suspected drinking water. "To get a perfectly clean, rounded, glass soda-water bottle and fill it with some of the questionable water; then to cork it with a new, unimpeachable cork. But before it is corked down, the addition must be made to it of as much white sifted cane sugar as would cover a two shilling piece. The bottle is then to be corked, and placed for two days in the sun. If its contents become milky or clouded, then the presence of sewage is to be suspected. "I have never known this rough test to fail," says Dr. Dabbs. "On the whole," writes Dr. Hutchison, "after an exhaustive, and impartial consideration of the subject, I am bound to admit that there is no better beverage for gouty persons than plain water; and they should be encouraged to drink freely of it, as an admirable aid to the elimination of nitrogenous waste." Again, Dr. Woods Hutchinson (Lancet, 1903) says, "The one element, whether we call it a food, or a medicine, which has been found to be of overwhelming importance and value in the treatment of gout, is Water; it acts most admirably, first by sweeping out the alimentary canal primarily, and the liver, kidneys, and skin secondarily, and next by supplying to the body cells that abundant salt water bath in which alone they can live, and discharge their functions. Ninety-nine per cent of our body cells, we too often forget, are still aquatic organisms, and marine at that. What salts, we may choose to dissolve in the water is purely a matter of taste. The one active agent in all the mineral waters which are so much vaunted, is the water; and the wonderful effect of mineral water resorts, many in number, for helping to cure this disease (the gout) is mainly due to the one thing which they all have in common-plain water,-plus suggestion, and aided of course by the healthful air of the springs, also by the excellent hygienic rules which are enjoined as part of the cure.

By the substitution of distilled water, or rain water, instead of water drawn from the well, or pump, for daily drinking, cases of goitre, or enlarged gland in front of the neck, have been successfully treated when all the customary medicinal agents, such as iodine, iodide of potash, hydrofluoric acid, and digitalis, had signally failed. Even when the glandular tumour is of long standing, the exclusive use of distilled water as a beverage will gradually bring about diminution, and finally disappearance of 66 the enlargement. In 1809, Dr. Lambe contended that " common water" is the chief vehicle by which cancerous disease invades the body, because of the putrescent, and inflammable matters always present more or less in such common water." Also, said Dr. Lambe, "for the mitigation of cancer, a strictly vegetable diet must be joined to the use of water purified by distillation. Under this combined regimen life may probably be prolonged to an indefinite extent, even in certain cases of ulcerating cancer, which is of long standing. The spread of cancerous disease into contiguous parts is completely prevented by the sole use of pure distilled water for drinking."

It is told pathetically that George Washington, the father of his country, was literally bled to death. The doctors in attendance on him, after repeated and copious venesection, resolved nevertheless to bleed him once more, and the great President died within a few minutes after the operation. With his last breath his pitiful cry was "Water! water! oh, give me water!" but this was denied him. "Plentiful water drinking," wrote Dr. King Chambers, "is to be advised for persons who labour under Bright's disease (albuminuria), where the smaller excretive blood-vessels of the kidneys are stiff, and blocked, and obstructed with thickening of their coats; hence they fail to carry on their blood into the kidneys to be purified, and thus the blood becomes fouled with the retained urea, and fails to be properly oxygenated, so that its red particles are deficient. Moreover, an exudation of the thinner-serous-part of the blood takes place into the open central chambers of the kidneys; and in order to wash these and other effete matters away, a plentiful use of aqueous drinks should be employed, which will flow out through the said organs. This will by no means increase a tendency to dropsy, but will rather obviate it; in point of fact, the only safe and thoroughly reliable diuretic for the relief of albuminous dropsy is water, and it is a most likely preventive of any such complication. As nourishment under the dilemma now described, whey (being free from casein proteid) is a very appropriate form of nourishment. For any acute congestion, or inflammation of the kidneys, a diet almost exclusively of skimmed milk, or of diluted milk, will be essential, whilst the patient is kept warm in bed under woollen clothing, and abstaining almost, if not altogether, from animal food, even as broth, or soup. The restriction to milk diet should be maintained far into convalescence, so as to avoid 66 bleeding from the kidneys if stimulated by stronger foods. When thirsty, the patient should drink barley water, or thin arrowroot, or apple water, and later on, "imperial drink." For making this, put two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar into a jug, and pour in two pints of boiling water, so as to dissolve the same ; then add the juice of a lemon, and some sugar, mixing these together. When it is cool the drink may be placed by the bedside, and taken at will. Different dietary tactics are needed for chronic kidney congestion, when the heart gets to require ample support, so that animal food, such as red meat, must be allowed daily, else the system will break down. If the urine becomes scanty during fever, or in pneumonia of a low type, the acid phosphates are then of much service, likewise fresh lemon juice with water. John Ruskin, in July, 1871, penned the following characteristic letter: My dearest Tom, really your simplicity about naughty me is the most comic thing I know, among all my old friends. Me, docile to doctors! I watched them (when I had three) to see what they knew of the matter, did what they advised for two days; found they were utterly ignorant of the illness, and were killing me. I had inflammation of the bowels, and they gave me ice, and tried to nourish me with milk. Another twelve hours, and I should have been past hope. I stopped in the middle of a draught of iced water, burning with insatiable thirst, thought over the illness myself steadily, and ordered the doctors out of the house. Everybody was in an agony, but I swore and raged till they had to give in, ordered hot toast and water in quantities, and mustard poultices to the bowels. One doctor had advised fomentation, that I persevered with, adding mustard to give outside pain. I used brandy and water as hot as I could drink it for stimulant, kept myself up with it, washed myself out with floods of toast and water, and ate nothing, and refused all medicine. In twenty-four hours I had the pain under, in twenty-four more I had healthy appetite for meat, and was safe ; but the agony of poor Johanna! forced to give me meat; for I ordered roast chicken instantly, when the doctors, unable to get at me, were imploring her to prevail on me not to kill myself, as they said I should. The poor thing stood it nobly; of course, none of them could move me one whit. I forced them to give me cold roast beef, and mustard, at two o'clock in the morning, and here I am, thank God! to all intent and purpose quite well again, but I was within an ace of the grave. But I know now something of doctors that (well, I thought Moliere had had enough of them, but he's complimentary to what I shall be after this). Thanks for all your good love, but do try to understand me a little better, indocilest when I choose of human creatures, but yet your's most affectionately, John Ruskin."

Dr. Morton, of New York, claims that the healing properties of many mineral springs, attributed hitherto to chemicals contained therein, do in reality depend on imprisoned sunlight, which can now be revealed by the X-rays, radium, and ultraviolet rays. When a patient swallows a solution (notably of quinine) it gives off within him, if rendered fluorescent by radioactivity, sunshine rays which are luminous if radium be held near the body, so that practically the patient's interior is thus bathed in sunlight. A hope is entertained, with no little confidence, that this discovery may lead on to a scientific cure of internal cancer by an extension of the same means.

Scientific dentistry has recently discovered that by a patient's gazing intently for a while at an electric light within a bulb of blue glass, the operation of immediately extracting a tooth is rendered almost painless.

In past times sufferers from small-pox were surrounded by some English doctors with red fabrics as to bed clothing, curtains, and window blinds; which practice has incurred modern ridicule, and amused derision. But Finsen, the famous scientist of Copenhagen, has ascertained that by excluding from such patients during this disease the chemical rays (blue, violet, and ultra-violet) of light, and admitting only the heat rays (red, and yellow) thereof, under such conditions no deep pitting of skin results from the pocks, and no secondary fever ensues. Finsen was first led to form these conclusions in 1832 when watching the successful treatment of small-pox patients in dark rooms. دو It is claimed by some medical thinkers, and with no small show of reason, that water absorbs nerve energy, and may be purposely charged therewith, for a sick person's benefit, by " passes from a sound, healthy, vigorous, plain-living, pure-minded individual, who lives much in the open air, and is of regular habits, without any excessive, or harmful indulgences; such water should be forthwith drunk by the patient, between two meal-times. On this showing, the ideal master of the healing art is the man who has an abundance of nerve energy, some of which he can transfer at need, and likewise possesses the power of imparting to the convictions of another an irresistible suggestion of health and vigour. Similarly, the susceptible invalid, lacking nerve health, and a complement of vital force, should drink occasionally a tumblerful of pure water which has been exposed to direct outdoor sunlight on a bright morning, or to brilliant moonlight at night when the moon is waxing towards its full; an exposure for fifteen minutes in each case will suffice. By this means the occult power of either luminary is conveyed through the water into the blood. The Sun is the father, and great source of energy on the physical plane, whilst the Moon is the mother, or restorer of nervous force, having a more intimate connection with magnetic attraction. To walk much in the moonlight, especially during the second quarter, and at the full, is undeniably beneficial in some states of nervous atony, (though it may be harmful at other times). The influence of the moon on the earth is strikingly shown by the tides produced thereby, this luminary being magnetic, whilst the sun is electric.

In an analogous way nerve energy can be transferred from the positive person to the negative, from the powerful to the weak, by taking both hands into those of the operator, or by putting one hand on the head of the patient, and the other over the large solar plexus of nerves embodied at the pit of the stomach. “A determined man," says Emerson, "by his very attitude, and the tone of his voice, puts a stop to defeat, and begins to conquer." In a somewhat like manner (as already related) the common, or garden lodestone of "magnetic iron" exercises certain physical effects, of which few persons are aware, for remedial purposes. "You would be surprised to know the uses people make of lodestones now-a-days," says a noted London mineralogist. gentleman I know never goes to sleep without a lodestone in his hand. Another keeps one on a little shelf at the head of his bed, and says he sleeps the better for it. Yet another man carries one about in his pocket. This riece (then in hand) I am going to grind flat for a lady, who places it on her face when suffering from neuralgia, and finds undoubted relief." "One An American scientist has carried out certain investigations in a field of enquiry hitherto considered beyond the pale of exact science, the influence of mental emotion on the body. His researches demonstrate in a practical way the effect produced by various states of mind upon individual health. Suppose half a dozen men in a room; one feels depressed, another remorseful, another ill-tempered, another jealous, another cheerful, another benevolent. It is a warm day, and they all perspire. Samples of their sudor, or perspiration, are handed to the psychologist; and under examination these several samples reveal all the emotional conditions particularized above, distinctly and unmistakably. Each disagreeable, or malign emotion is associated with its own particular poison, which reacts injuriously upon the person physically; whereby bad thoughts, and memories, undermine the energies; and among all the chemical products of such motions that of conscious guilt is the worst. If a small quantity of the sudor of a person suffering from a sense of guilt is placed in a glass tube, and exposed to contact with selenic acid, it will turn pink. And, corresponding to the evil emotion, there is a mischievous change in the tissues of the body, which depresses vitality, and engenders poison; whilst on the other hand every good emotion works an exalting, and lifepromoting change. Reverting to the subject of mineral waters, a distinct relation exists as to mineralization of the bodily tissues for good or evil, between the physical states of gout on the one hand, and tubercular consumption of the lungs on the other. Furthermore, the dietetic treatment of these diseases is respectively indicated by this relation. The gouty subject is over-mineralized, and must be fed accordingly, whilst the consumptive patient is undermineralized, and has to be almost surfeited with urea (largely present in ordinary eggs), the obnoxious basis of gout. Chemically, the blood of the gouty and the consumptive are antagonistic. "The consumptive," says a physician who successfully conducts an important open-air sanatorium near New York City, "should eat all that a gouty patient may not eat." They chiefly lack the chlorides, and phosphates, whilst deficient also in acids; on the other hand, in gouty persons, the blood is too largely endowed with these ingredients, beyond a standard of health. With regard to eggs, as particularly well suited for the needs of the consumptive, it is found that this food differs intrinsically from all other forms, not only as to its nutrient capabilities, but also as to its stimulating effects. Usually the method is to begin with three eggs daily, taken raw if possible, either in egg lemonade, or perhaps (though less profitably) with a little whisky, or sherry; in most cases it is better to give the eggs raw, and unmixed, even by the patient sucking them from the shell, as in the days of boyhood; else, he may smash one egg at a time into a cup, without breaking the yolk, adding thereto a dash of pepper, and salt, before swallowing it down like an oyster. It is surprising to find how soon a patient becomes accustomed to this regimen; even fussy, squeamish, neurotic women take their eggs without a murmur. As a rule, the eggs should be swallowed at the end of each meal, because they then interfere less with the appetite for the next meal. It is not enough to stop at three eggs a day, which are the minimum quantity, not the maximum allowance. "In the second week of treatment, if the eggs are borne well, I am accustomed to increase the quantity to two eggs three times a day, and thereafter to keep up the increase week by week, until twelve, eighteen, and even twenty-four raw eggs are consumed daily. The gain produced in flesh, and strength, under these conditions is most striking." It is a certain fact that the gouty uric acid state leads to a practical immunity from consumption.

As to the indisputable truth of planetary influences on our bodily welfare, or the reverse, John Swann, in his Speculum Mundi (1643), has put the question thus:- "Senseless is he who without blush denies What to sound senses most apparent lies:

And such is he that doth affirm the starres To have no force on their inferiours." "And, of how the brains of mice do wax and wane with the waxing and waning of the moon, being ever less when the light of that horned lamp is further from the full." "The best laid schemes o' mice, and men Gang aft a-gley."

For hydrophobia, with its horror of water as the leading symptom, in old Roman times the main general remedy advocated by Celsus, and others, was to cast the patient into water before he, or she, was aware of it, and this to be repeated daily for several days, "Since that which he feareth is the only medicine to cure him. Should the patient swim well, hold him under water a little while, till he have taken in some pretty quantity." Charles Lamb tells, in one of Elia's charming essays, about a pump which stood in Hare's Court, the Temple, and which was always going, the water of which " is excellent, cold, with brandy, and not very insipid without." "At one time," said Mary