CHAIRMAN'S OPENING REMARKS 



R. A. McCance 



When I first became interested in electrolytes some 25 or 30 

 years ago, there were not many other people interested in the 

 subject. Indeed, if they had been collected together in this 

 room for a symposium, they would have rattled about like 

 peas in a pod. But we did not meet. The world was no larger 

 then but there were no fairy godmothers like the Ciba Founda- 

 tion to transport us from distant parts of the world to London 

 in machines flying at hundreds of miles an hour in order that 

 we might see each other. Now there are so many people 

 interested in electrolytes that if all of them were to come to a 

 meeting, we should have to hold it in Trafalgar Square, or if it 

 were wet, in the Festival Hall. 



We owe our fairy godmother a lot of thanks. 



The subject of electrolyte metabolism has developed enor- 

 mously. We realize now that electrolytes enter into practically 

 every reaction that takes place in the body, but we still know 

 very little about a great many of them. The functions of 

 magnesium, for example, are still very much of a mystery, and 

 if anybody here can throw any light on this element it would 

 be very stimulating. We still know extremely little about how 

 and why the total amounts of the various electrolytes in the 

 body are maintained; why and how their relationships change 

 with age; what part each individual cell is playing and what 

 effect a change in the rest of the body may have on an indi- 

 vidual cell. That brings me to the object of this colloquium. 

 If you look at your programme you see that we have been 

 asked to try to put together our knowledge and information 

 about water and electrolyte metabolism in relation to age and 

 sex. You will see how the days have been divided up. The 

 first day will be devoted to "General principles". Then we 



AGEING— IV— 1 1 



