WATER AS A DIETARY CONSTITUENT 279 



augmented water intake has also been demonstrated (Heilner(a), East, 

 Rulon and Hawk, Foster and Davis, Benedict (a)). 



Influence on Basal Metabolism. Apparently Speck is the only ob- 

 server who has studied this question after the ingestion of volumes of 

 water as great as those used in the writer's experiments, i.e., 3,000-4,500 

 c.c. per day. According to this observer, when 1,250 c.c. of water was 

 taken, there was a noticeable rise in metabolism. Benedict and Carpenter 

 (b) conclude that with more than 500 grams of cold water, an increase 

 as great as 16 per cent above the basal value may be obtained. 



Influence of a Diminished Water Intake. If no water, or an in- 

 sufficient quantity of water, enters our body, we quickly become abnormal. 

 This point was emphasized in connection with a metabolism test in the 

 writer's laboratory. We were to study the influence of an increased water 

 ingestion. Therefore, in order to have a pronounced difference between 

 the water intake of the preliminary and experimental periods, the water 

 quota of the diet of the preliminary period was reduced to a minimum. 

 The subjects (men) of the experiment soon gave evidence of abnormal 

 function as shown by headaches, nervousness, loss of appetite, digestive 

 disturbances, and inability to concentrate on the performance of accurate 

 chemical work. As soon as the above symptoms appeared, the water con- 

 tent of the diet was increased, and with this single change the experiment 

 proceeded satisfactorily. Dennig and Niles have also shown the undesir- 

 able effect of a diminished water intake. 



That man or a lower animal will live longer without food than without 

 water is well recognized. If we give a dog all the food he wishes but 

 no water, the beast dies in a short time. If we give the animal no food 

 but see to it that he receives plenty of water, the animal will live much 

 longer. In a test in the writer's laboratory in 1912 (Howe, Mattill, and 

 Hawk(&)), an adult dog (26 kg.), which was given TOO c.c. of water daily, 

 lived over 100 days without food. Smirnov has also demonstrated that 

 fasting rabbits which were permitted free access to water were less prone 

 to show signs of fatty infiltration of the liver than were similar fasting 

 rabbits which were not permitted to drink water. 



Rubner says that a fasting animal may lose all its glycogen and fat and 

 one-half its protein and still live, but if it loses one-tenth of its water, it 

 dies. We are continually losing water by way of the kidneys, lungs, skin, 

 and bowel, and if we do not drink sufficient water to make good these losses, 

 our body quickly ceases to function properly and death soon follows. 

 That the loss of water through skin and air passages may be considerable 

 has been shown by direct determination (Soderstrom and DuBoia 

 Normal men twenty to fifty years old may lose by these channels 701 

 grams of water per day, and the water thus lost carries with it i * per 

 cent of the total heat produced in the Inxly. Typhoid patients with a 

 rising temperature show a decreased water output, while the reverse 



