430 Shidies in Water Drinking [April-July 



So far as the pancreatic secretion is concerned certain of our 

 experiments indicate that the ingestion of large volumes of water at 

 mealtime stimulates the pancreatic function indirectly through the 

 entrance of the increased volume of acid chyme into the duodenum. 

 In view of the stimulated saHvary, gastric and pancreatic func- 

 tions, and the more efficient activity of the digestive enzymes con- 

 tained in these secretions, one would naturally expect that the in- 

 gested food would be more completely utilized by the human body 

 under the influence of an abundant water intake. A better utihzation 

 of the three nutrients — protein, fat, and carbohydrate — has been 

 demonstrated in our experiments. If the food is better utihzed, 

 then a smaller quota of unabsorbed residues of food and secretions 

 will remain in the intestine to form media for the growth of bac- 

 teria. In several of our experiments quantitative determinations 

 of these bacteria were made and in every case water drinking with 

 meals was accompanied by a decreased growth of microörganisms ; 

 and, associated with this decreased bacterial development, occurred 

 a decrease in the processes of intestinal putrefaction. The increased 

 flow of acid chyme into the intestine also militates against the activ- 

 ity of the putre facti ve bacteria, inasmuch as such microörganisms do 

 not thrive in an acid medium. 



Our experiments just summarized indicate that the drinking of 

 water with meals exerts a desirable influence upon a number of the 

 most important of the activities and functions of the gastro-in- 

 testinal tract. I have considered these activities in logical order 

 beginning with the oral cavity and ending with the large intestine. 

 Our experiments were not made in this order, however, our first 

 study being concerned with the development of intestinal bacteria 

 whereas one of our most recent tests was concerned with the activity 

 of the salivary secretion. 



The water used in all of our experiments thus f ar mentioned was 

 softened water. This was prepared by treating ordinary city water 

 with one-sixth its volume of saturated lime-water and filtering ofif 

 the resultant precipitate. Having established various beneficial rela- 

 tionships for softened water the question arose as to whether the 

 drinking of distilled water at mealtime would have a similar influ- 

 ence. A belief very widely held by both the laity and the scientific 



