P OP ULAR MIS CELL A NY. 



855 



hue of the skin, he has found that many 

 were accustomed to take less than the usual 

 average quantity of drink. In such cases 

 he would prescribe an increased quantity of 

 drink, with beneficial effects in increased 

 perspiration, and the decrease or disap- 

 pearance of the unpleasant symptoms. The 

 waste of tissue-changes in the system passes 

 into the blood, and leaves the system only 

 in solution. This, Dr. Webber maintains, 

 can not take place unless enough water is 

 taken. Further, " water taken with the 

 food favors digestion ; when taken into the 

 stomach a part is absorbed by the gastric 

 vessels, carrying with it the soluble constit- 

 uents of the food. So much as is not im- 

 mediately absorbed assists in softening and 

 breaking up the larger particles of food, 

 and thus aids in the gastric digestion by 

 facilitating the action of the gastric fluids." 

 It also makes it easier to keep the bowels 

 regular. In estimating the quantity of 

 water to be taken daily, we should remem- 

 ber that water is excreted by the lungs 

 and skin, as well as by the kidneys, and 

 that much food contains water. Hence the 

 amount required must vary slightly with the 

 activity of the skin and the character of 

 the food. Dalton states that the average 

 amount is about fifty -two ounces, or 3'38 

 pints, or the equivalent of eight or nine 

 coffee-cups of drink. 



Temperature of the Breath. Mr. R. E. 



Dudgeon has been trying some experiments 

 on the temperature of the breath, and in- 

 fers from the results that it is considerably 

 higher than has generally been stated, and 

 that it is variable. First, on rising in the 

 morning, having ascertained the tempera- 

 ture of his body as shown by the thermom- 

 eter in the axilla and mouth to be normal 

 about 98^ he wrapped the thermometer 

 tightly in a silk handkerchief and breathed 

 upon it. In five minutes it indicated 10G"2. 

 At 7 p. m., after a brief walking exercise, 

 and when he had eaten nothing but a spoon- 

 ful of boiled rice, and drunk only half a 

 glass of water and a mouthful of ginger- 

 beer, his breath raised the mercury to 107. 

 Immediately after a dinner at which only 

 water was drunk, a temperature of 108 

 was shown. At other times the thermome- 

 ter would not rise, under apparently the 



same conditions, higher than 102 to 105- 

 He can suggest no way of accounting for 

 these indications otherwise than by admit- 

 ting that they show the actual temperature 

 of the breath as it issues from the lungs. 

 " If so," says Mr. Dudgeon, " it is by the 

 breath that the system gets rid of its super- 

 fluous caloric." The experiments seem to 

 show that the temperature obtained from 

 the breath is higher when the surrounding 

 air is warm than when it is cold, indicat- 

 ing possibly that more heat is passed off 

 by the breath when less can escape from 

 the general surface of the body. 



The Ancient Outlet of Lake Bonneville. 



The name of " Lake Bonneville " has been 

 applied to a great body of water which for- 

 merly covered the desert basins of Utah, 

 of which the most conspicuous vestiges are 

 its shore-lines. It is known from them that 

 the ancient water-surface was more than 

 ten times as great as that of the Great Salt 

 Lake, and that the ancient level of the 

 water was about one thousand feet above 

 the modern level. The point at which the 

 waters of this lake were discharged is still 

 undetermined. Mr. G. K. Gilbert main- 

 tained, in the " American Journal of Sci- 

 ence" for April, 1878, that the point of 

 overflow was Red Rock Pass, Idaho, at the 

 north end of Cache Valley; that the dis- 

 charging stream descended through Marsh 

 Valley, and thence continuously to the Pa- 

 cific Ocean ; and that, flowing over soft 

 material at first, it gradually excavated at 

 the pass a channel more than three hundred 

 feet deep, and lowered the level of the lake 

 by the same amount. Dr. A. C. Peale con- 

 troverted Mr. Gilbert's conclusion in a sub- 

 sequent number of the " Journal," and held 

 that the original altitude of the Red Rock 

 Pass was considerably below the highest 

 level of Lake Bonneville ; that the original 

 shore-line exists in Marsh Valley, at the 

 north end of the pass, as it docs in Cache 

 Valley at the south ; and that the real point 

 of discharge, when the water stood at the 

 Bonneville level, was about forty-five miles 

 north of Red Rock Pass. Mr. Gilbert has, 

 within a few months, revisited Marsh Valley 

 and Red Rock Pass, and other points near 

 the former supposed outlet of the lake, and 

 gives in the May number of the " Journal " 



