48 



PHYSIOLOGICAL REGULATIONS 



tors as to whether water was obtained, releases more alimentary 

 activity (Bellows, '39). 



Data are now available for a second equilibration diagram that 

 concerns stationary states of water loads (fig. 29). Comparing in 

 it the positive increments with equal negative increments, I note 

 that all rates of net gain surpass rates of net loss. It is as though 

 intake were on a larger scale (oversize) than output. The same 

 statements are represented in another form by the velocity quo- 

 tients (fig. 18, HH'). 



At any one load, simultaneous rates of gross gain and of gross 

 loss of water may be compared numerically by taking their ratio. 



Total Woter Lood 



Pig. 29. Eates of water exchanges (% of BoAour) in relation to water load (% of 

 Bo) in steady states of load. Equilibration diagram. In negative loads the data are 

 from figures 28 and 12; in positive loads the losses are from figure 26, the gains from 

 figure 13. 



This ratio (total gain/total loss) has been termed by Huber ('24) 

 the water economy, or economy quotient. At balance the economy 

 quotient is 1. The economy quotient thus measures the relative 

 role of gain and of loss during attempts to recover. 



Thus, in selected conditions of nearly steady water load, uni- 

 form rates of water exchange are observed. In them the equilibra- 

 tion diagram measured is of wide generality, for it is independent 

 of time. Whenever the water load is known, total and partitioned 

 exchanges are also known. Whenever one rate of total exchange 

 is known, the others and the water content may be predicted. 



