292 PHILIP B. HAWK 



have shown that there is complete restoration of blood volume of the dog 

 and rabbit within thirty minutes after the intravenous injection of a 

 quantity of saline equal to the calculated blood volume of the individual. 

 Therefore, after one drinks copiously of water, the influence upon blood 

 volume and blood pressure is both slight and transitory. 



Distilled Water. A belief very widely held by both the laity and the 

 scientific worker is to the effect that the ingestion of distilled water is a 

 bad procedure. The absence of inorganic matter in such water is believed 

 to be the forerunner of various untoward influences upon the processes of 

 digestion and absorption. So far as I am aware, there is no experimental 

 basis for such a belief. One scientist (Findlay) says: 



"If tissues or cells are placed in distilled water, passage of water into 

 the cells occurs owing to the difference of osmotic pressure. The cells 

 swell up and may finally burst and die. A similar poisonous action on cells 

 is observed when distilled water is drunk. In this case the surface layers 

 of the epithelium of the stomach undergo considerable swelling; salts 

 also pass out and the cells may die and be cast off. This may lead to 

 catarrh of .the stomach." 



If this scientist's claims are true, then one of our fasting tests is a 

 notable exception. This is the fast which continued for over 100 days 

 and to which reference has already been made (see p. 279). The fasting 

 dog was given TOO c.c. of distilled water daily by means of a stomach 

 tube, and yet at the end of the fast the post-mortem examination failed 

 to show any evidence of a deranged gastric mucosa. Certainly a period 

 of over 100 days is a sufficiently long interval in which to demonstrate the 

 toxic influence of distilled water if such an influence is demonstrable. 

 Particularly is this true of the fasting animal, which may possess a 

 lowered resistance to toxic influences. 



However, if we grant that distilled water, because of the absence of 

 electrolytes, does possess a pernicious influence upon the gastric mucosa, 

 it is quite logical to believe that such influence will be exerted to the maxi- 

 mum by distilled water taken between meals. Because of the electrolyte 

 content of the average diet distilled water taken along with such a diet 

 will cease to act as distilled water soon after it reaches the stomach. The 

 toxic action of distilled water, if such action is demonstrable, must be 

 more in evidence when the distilled water passes into the relatively empty 

 stomach. So far as the swelling and ultimate bursting of the cells under 

 the inflaence of osmotic forces is concerned, it must be apparent that os- 

 motic phenomena which are exhibited by non-living, excised cells do not 

 necessarily hold for cells actually functioning in the animal body. Distilled 

 water in contact with a cell of the living body may, through osmotic influ- 

 ence, cause a swelling of the cell, but the actual bursting of the cell will, of 

 course, be prevented by physiological factors which will be called into play, 

 thus causing the circulation to remove the excess fluid. 



