294 PHILIP B. HAWK 



and himself, normal subjects have been employed. We have made no 

 clinical studies and have made no clinical suggestions. It may be true 

 that a person with a deranged circulatory or gastric function, or any pro- 

 nounced lesion of heart or kidney, should not drink large volumes of 

 water at any time, either with meals or between meals. The ingestion 

 of large volumes of water with meals may be contra-indicated in atonic 

 or dilated stomach, since an excessive water ingestion might promote 

 further atony and dilation. It may also be contra-indicated in gastroptosis, 

 where the gastric support is relaxed and insufficient and in certain cases 

 of pyloric colic and spasm. If contra-indicated in these conditions, how- 

 ever, we have no experimental evidence to that effect, and it is because a 

 large volume or weight at any one time is contra-indicated and not because 

 of the water per se. The writer would say, therefore, that normal persons 

 may drink freely of water at mealtime, whereas those unfortunate in- 

 dividuals who possess lesions of heart or kidney or who are troubled with 

 any circulatory or gastric disturbance, should have their fluid intake regu- 

 lated strictly according to medical advice. The literature contains at 

 least two observations (Marcus, Foster and Davis), indicating that the 

 drinking of considerable water by nephritics causes no undesirable re- 

 sults, whereas the finding that the introduction of an excessive volume 

 of fluid into the circulation causes no significant increase in blood volume 

 or blood pressure (Bogert, Underbill and Mendel) would seem to indi- 

 cate that patients suffering from cardiac disorders need not necessarily 

 have their water intake materially restricted. 



On the basis of a large number of experiments, made in the writer's 

 laboratory and elsewhere, we feel warranted in concluding that the 

 average normal individual will find that the drinking of a reasonable vol- 

 ume of water with meals will promote the secretion and activity of the di- 

 gestive juices, and the digestion and absorption of the ingested food, and 

 will retard the growth of intestinal bacteria and lessen the extent of the 

 putrefactive processes in the intestine. Furthermore, we would place no 

 restriction upon the drinking of distilled water and none upon the drinking 

 of moderate quantities of ice cold water, except when one is overheated 

 following vigorous physical exercise. 



That Nature knew all these things long before we did is indicated by 

 the fact that milk, Nature's best food, contains 87 per cent water and 

 by the further fact that the birds and the beasts (Eward) set man a good 

 example to follow in the matter of water drinking at meals. 



There is an old German proverb which reads "Alles Ubel vergeht 

 durch Wasser und Diat." That is a perfectly good proverb, but I suggest 

 that it be revised to read "Alles Ubel vergeht durch reichlich Wasser in der 

 Piat." 



