244 PHYSIOLOGICAL EEGULATIONS 



lar twitchings, restlessness, chills, vomiting, dyspnea, asthenia, 

 sweating, diarrhea, incoordination of movements, stupor, aphasia, 

 dilatation of pupils, opisthotonus, convulsions, unconsciousness, 

 and death (Marx, '35; Helwig et al., '35, '38; Barahal, '38). These 

 ill-defined terms refer not merely to ' ' symptoms, ' ' but also to states 

 of the organism. Certain units of the broad syndrome actually 

 relieve the body of water, particularly vomiting, dyspnea, sweat- 

 ing, and diarrhea. Other units may be viewed as parts of an inevi- 

 table complex, whether of unavoidable sequelae, or of the organ- 

 ism's attempts to avoid excesses and recover from them. 



Prolonged drinking of about 15% of Bo of water per day in- 

 creases the urge to drink (Regnier, '16; Kunstmann, '33). After 

 8 to 127 days the subjects often awoke at night and got out of bed 

 to get water. That the drinking opposes recovery of water content 

 can be surmised; it may still be the shortest way to total balance. 



In water deficits another set of behaviors appears (King, 1878; 

 McGee, '06), as observed in travellers lost in the hot desert. They 

 are: inability to swallow, dimness of vision, partial deafness, 

 vertigo, delirium, incoordination of movement, emotional irrita- 

 bility, dreams of eating and drinking, and illusions of lakes and 

 running streams. Restlessness, tormenting sensations, and mental 

 confusion prevail. Each word stands for a long story of gruelling 

 human experience. Some attempt has been made to classify these 

 manifestations according to the degree of deficit at which they 

 occur, with emphasis upon those incident in extreme loads. All of 

 them are susceptible of quantitative study by refined methods under 

 controlled conditions and in known states of water load; I have 

 faith that quantitative relations will mean more than qualitative 

 characterizations. 



(5) Summary comment. Most of the data reported were origi- 

 nally obtained upon the hypothesis that some one change in the 

 body would be found to initiate the responses of the organism to the 

 load of water. With respect to water excess, Nonnenbruch ( '24) 

 concludes that : ' ' No regular changes are known that occur in the 

 body after drinking one liter of water and regulate the elimination 

 of it." I think that is not a fair statement of the situation now. 

 Often the changes found are less regular than was hoped ; that does 

 not modify their statistical significance. The known changes may 

 take part in regulating excretion but only on a par with any other 

 concomitant features. No sign from heaven is likely to point out 

 one key that unlocks the eliminatory activities. 



