COERELATIVES OF WATER CONTENT 233 



Certainly the presence of too much or too little water in the dog 

 disturbs the bodily functions in many measurable ways. From the 

 even tenor of maintenance, departures are visible in the alimentary 

 secretions, food ingestions, energy transformations, renal clear- 

 ances, and diverse neuromuscular activities. Several of these 

 modifications are distinctly correlated with the suddenness of water 

 loading. Which of them come as shocks and which are compen- 

 satory can be decided only in part, when judged according to their 

 promotion of recovery of water content of the whole body. 



§ 85. QUANTITATIVIE CHARACTERIZATIONS OF WATER LOADS 



Increments in diverse volumes, concentrations, and rates of 

 functioning in particular tissues, now appear correlated with water 

 loads of the whole body. Each of these is evidently interrelated 

 with all the others; and as long as only one variable (AW) is, or 

 possibly two variables (AW and At) are, alone ''independent," the 

 relations among all the correlatives can with ease be described 

 quantitatively. To do this, tables 23 and 24, and numerous two- 

 dimensional graphs such as figure 124, are combined in an align- 

 ment chart (fig. 131). The latter emphasizes the concept that no 

 one of the quantities plotted is of more consequence than any other ; 

 all are coordinate states or happenings. 



To the increments measured might be added the modifications 

 in a variety of further quantities such as pressures (in arteries, 

 cranium, spinal fluid, Rowntree, '26), physical condition of skin, 

 and rectal temperatures (Keith and AVhelan, '26). 



Each of the modifications mentioned and most of their combi- 

 nations, may appear in many types of water load. Speaking of 

 man. Underbill and Fisk ( '30, p. 348) state that: "Such apparently 

 different chemical conditions as Asiatic cholera, infant diarrheas, 

 intestinal obstruction, influenza, war gas poisoning, and extensive 

 superficial burns, exhibit as a common symptom a marked concen- 

 tration of the blood. ' ' 



Measures of blood concentration have been preferred above all 

 others to characterize states of water load. Data concerning them 

 are obtained more easily than concerning any other correlative 

 except body weights that have yet been used. It might be inferred 

 from the above statement that any and every kind of blood concen- 

 tration is modified. Haden and Orr ('23) say more specifically 

 that ''the characteristic features of dehydration are: increased 



