I9I4] P. B. Hawk 421 



sess associations of which we were not aware or which are so seif- 

 evident as to have escaped emphasis. 



It is rather startling when we appreciate that the muscle which 

 performs such large amounts of physical work is 75 per cent. water; 

 that the brain which, in the fulfilment of its function as business 

 manager of the body, correlates and regulates such a vast array of 

 intricate processes and activities, is from 85 to 90 per cent. water; 

 that the blood upon which the proper nourishment of every organ 

 and tissue of the body depends is over 90 per cent. water; that the 

 liver cell which possesses the abihty to initiate or to bring to a suc- 

 cessful issue a large number of different processes which are vital to 

 the proper sequence of the metabolic regime is 75 per cent. water; 

 that the bone, the tensile strength of which may be 25,000 pounds 

 per Square inch, a tensile strength more than twice that of good 

 timber and one and one-fourth times as great as the tensile strength 

 of cast iron, may contain over 40 per cent. of water; and finally, 

 that the saliva — the digestive fluid which is able to attack the com- 

 plex insoluble starch molecules submitted to it in cereals, vegetables, 

 etc., and to reduce them through a large number of definite stages 

 until there finally emerges the soluble maitose which is later made 

 available for purposes of nutrition — contains 99.5 per cent. of water 

 and that its digestive efficiency is further enhanced by increasing its 

 water content. This enumeration of the contents of water in the 

 various tissues and secretions of the body, and the correlation of 

 these values with the important röle played by these tissues and 

 secretions in the animal economy, emphasizes at once the fact that 

 water is an extremely essential body constituenf. 



Notwithstanding the fact that chemical analysis shows water to 

 be present in every tissue, organ, cell, secretion and fluid of the body, 

 one may imagine that such an inoffensive and apparently unimpor- 

 tant substance as water cannot coöperate in any material way in the 

 successful carrying out of the multitudinous important functions of 

 the body. This idea is quickly dispelled, however, if we eliminate 

 water from our dietary for even a short interval of time. Under 

 such conditions every important function of the body, whether based 

 upon physical, chemical or psychical f oundation, is lowered in its effi- 

 ciency. This lowered efficiency is not so evident when one abstains 



