1913I N' R' Blatherwick and P. B. Hawk 29 



distilled water is drunk. In this case the surface layers of the 

 epithelium of the stomach undergo considerable swelling; salts 

 also pass out, and the cells may die and be cast off. This may lead 

 to catarrh of the stomach. It is to this action of pure water that 

 the harmful effects of melted snow or ice is due, since freezing puri- 

 fies the water. For this reason also, one of the Springs of Gastein 

 has come to be known as the Poison Spring, although its water is 

 purer than ordinary distilled water." 



If Findlay's argument regarding the pernicious influence of dis- 

 tilled-water Ingestion is true, a very decided exception was noted 

 in one of the fasting experiments made at the University of Illinois. 

 In this instance a dog was fasted 117 days (4) and received, by 

 means of a stomach tube, a daily ration of 700 o.e. of distilled 

 water. The animal was then fed and brought back to normal 

 weight, and again fasted for 104 days. At the end of this ex- 

 tremely long period of inanition, the organs and tissues of the animal 

 were carefully examined. No signs of a deranged gastric mucosa 

 were in evidence. If the toxic influence of distilled water is as pro- 

 nounced as Findlay would have us believe, certainly a period of 117 

 days is a sufficiently long interval in which to demonstrate such an 

 influence. This would appear to be particularly true in the case 

 of a fasting animal, whose resistance to such toxic influence may 

 have been lowered somewhat. 



Granting the validity of Findlay's claim, his contention cannot 

 be advanced as evidence of the harmful influence of drinking dis- 

 tilled water with meals. Because of the electrolyte content of the 

 average diet, the distilled water would cease to act as distilled water 

 soon after its entrance into the stomach. If distilled water is to be 

 considered as having a toxic influence upon the gastric mucosa, such 

 toxic effect must of necessity be more pronounced when the distilled 

 water is introduced into an empty stomach. It will be apparent 

 from the discussion which follows that we were able to detect no 

 harmful influence exerted by the distilled water in the experiments 

 herewith described. 



Koeppe (5) has voiced the opinion that the catarrh of the stom- 

 ach which may follow the excessive Ingestion of ice arises because 

 of the lack of salts in the water from the melting ice. Nocht (6) 



