I9I4] P' B. Hawk 431 



worker is to the effect that the ingestion of distilled water is a bad 

 procedura. The absence of inorganic matter in such water is be- 

 heved to be the forerunner of various untoward influences upon the 

 processes of digestion and absorption. So far as I am aware there 

 is no experimental basis for such a beHef. An eminent EngHsh 

 scientist has written as follows concerning the influence of distilled 

 water: "If tissues or cells are placed in distilled water, passage of 

 water into the cells occurs owing to the difference of osmotic 

 pressure. The cells swell up and may finally burst and die. A sim- 

 ilar poisonous action on cells is observed when distilled water is 

 drunk. In this case the surface layers of the epithelium of the stom- 

 ach undergo considerable swelling; salts also pass out and the cells 

 may die and be cast off. This may lead to catarrh of the stomach." 



If this eminent scientist's claims are true then one of our fast- 

 ing tests is a notable exception. This is the fast which continued 

 for over 100 days and to which reference has already been made. 

 The fasting dog was given 700 cc. of distilled water daily by means 

 of a stomach tube, and yet at the end of the fast the post-mortem 

 examination failed to show any evidence of a deranged gastric 

 mucosa. Certainly a period of over 100 days is a sufficiently long 

 interval in which to demonstrate the toxic influence of distilled water 

 if such an influence is demonstrable. Particularly is this true of 

 the fasting animal, which may possess a lowered resistance to toxic 

 influences. 



However, if we grant that distilled water, because of the ab- 

 sence of electrolytes, does possess a pernicious influence upon the 

 gastric mucosa, it is quite logical to believe that such influence will 

 be exerted to the maximum by distilled water taken between meals. 

 Because of the electrolyte content of the average diet distilled water 

 taken along with such a diet will cease to act as distilled water soon 

 after it reaches the stomach. The toxic action of distilled water, 

 if such action is demonstrable, must be more in evidence when the 

 distilled water passes into the relatively empty stomach. So far as 

 the swelling and ultimate bursting of the cells under the influence of 

 osmotic forces is concerned, it must be apparent that osmotic phe- 

 nomena which are exhibited by non-living, excised cells do not 

 necessarily hold for cells actually functioning in the animal body. 



