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WATER.

There is obviously no remedy or drink so easily obtainable and of such general use as pure water. It is about the oldest beverage that man ever had and it still is by far the best. What is nicer, for example, than a glassful of cold spring water on a hot summer’s day, or more inspiring than a tumblerful of hot distilled water taken on waking in the morning to clean the digestive organs before they start on their daily round of inner toil.

Water is an essential constituent of all the tissues, and of all the secretions and excretions of the human body. Three-fourths of the surface of the globe is occupied by water and two-thirds of the human body is made up of the same commodity. This fact alone shews the supreme necessity of water to our organism.

The body expels through the lungs, the skin, the kidneys, etc. (i.e., through the various excreting organs) several pints daily. A very large amount of water is also used in the preparation of the saliva, gastric juice and other internal secretions of the system. It is obvious, therefore, that an intake equal to that lost must be supplied to make up the deficiency and to restore the balance.

Daily Requirements of the Body.

To maintain health, from 4 to 5 pints of water or the equivalent in fruit or suitable beverages, is needed to supply the daily wants of the system. It should be remembered, however, that practically all foods contain water to greater or less extent, and the quantity named above is not meant to indicate the amount of water as such to be taken per diem. The water content of the entire diet is to be reckoned in.

This water is called for:

(1) To manufacture the various secretions, such as the saliva, gastric juice, etc.

(2) To dilute the blood and enable it to fulfil its regular functions of a common carrier of nutriment.

(3) To regulate the combustion constantly going on in the tissues, as a result of the normal assimilation of our food.

(4) To clear and wash out the waste of the tissues.

(5) To moisten the food residue in the bowels and thus prevent constipation.

From the above data it is clear that water plays an important part in the building up, purification and breaking down of the tissues of the body. It is essential then that water should be taken in proper quantity, for internal cleanliness is every whit as important as external cleanliness.

Water as a Curative Agent.

Water taken internally washes out (by the kidneys) the urea and the wastes and inorganic minerals for which the body has no need. It also clears out uric, oxalic, lactic and acetic acids or other injurious substances of an acid nature which have formed, as a result of fermentative and putrefactive changes occurring during the process of digestion and assimilation.

When disease has developed in the body, water serves the useful purpose of cleansing and increasing the fluidity of the blood and the tissues. By removing accumulated waste, which is the usual cause of most diseases, it places the tissues affected in a better state to take up and assimilate new food. Water is a universal solvent and thus unclogs the tissues of their waste, increases combustion and oxidation. In other words it favours the elimination of carbonic acid and the absorption of oxygen. This cleansing process, so frequently noticed in the case of fasting patients, who are freely drinking distilled water, and washing out the bowels by the douche treatment, promotes appetite, and often encourages an increase of weight among those who are too thin and reduces the weight of those who are too fat.

The So-called Medicinal Waters.

To carry out the cleansing of the body which is an essential part of the treatment at Health Resorts and Hydropathic Establishments, water is the agent chiefly relied upon. The chief value of Spa and mineral waters in the nascent or free state, lies in the quantity of water imbibed, together with the hygienic environment and pleasant occupation of the mind, which are the usual adjuncts of such health resorts. It is extremely doubtful if the various minerals present in these special “waters” are in any sense usable by the human body, though they may possibly act in some cases and under certain conditions as purgative agents.

The Action of Water in the Body.

When water is taken on an empty stomach, it first washes the stomach and the bowels, it is then absorbed by the veins of the stomach and passes via the liver to the right side of the heart. The heart now pumps it through the lungs to reach the left side of the heart, from which, finally, the water is carried along the blood to every nook and cranny of the body. It is finally eliminated by the kidneys, or by the lungs as watery vapour, or by the skin as perspiration.

The absorption of water by the veins of the stomach is increased by a low pressure of the blood, which in turn, is produced by any sudden or rapid loss of the fluids of the body as in severe bleeding, diarrhœa, profuse perspiration, or as happens as a result of fasting and starvation.

Absorption is retarded, on the contrary, by a hard and unyielding state of the blood-vessels, mainly caused by a plethoric or over-nourished and over-watered condition of the body.

The Temperature of Water.

The temperature at which water should be taken is important. Very hot water is thought to constipate, tepid water to relax and cold water to be aperient. This is not always the case, since hot water, by relaxing the tissues and supplying heat to them, very often promotes the action of the bowels and other organs. This, to some extent, is brought about by the stimulating effect of the hot water upon the nervous system.

Water In Heart Disease and Dilatation of the Stomach.

The quantity of water taken should be much restricted in cases of heart disease and dilated stomach, since the water makes the task of a maimed heart more onerous, owing to the larger bulk of the blood that it has to pump along the blood-vessels. The quantity should especially be restricted when heart disease is complicated with kidney trouble and dropsy. Abstinence from water and other fluid beverages is also an essential factor in the successful treatment of the common disorder known as “Dilated Stomach.”

Water and Dropsy.

Excessive water drinking, combined with over-eating and the free use of salt and alcoholic drinks, also has a tendency to lead to the overworking, and consequent clogging up, of the kidneys and thus promotes dropsy, or when this is not the case, to a water-logged condition of the tissues (bloatedness or obesity).

When to Drink Water.

Water should not be taken with meals, unless in small amounts as beverages, for this practice retards digestion by unduly diluting the digestive juices at a time when they ought to be in a concentrated condition, and thereby encourages flatulence and acid dyspepsia.

It is also inadvisable to drink cold water when overheated, although in the Turkish and vapour bath the free consumption of water, hot or cold, is often strongly recommended.

Water in the Cure of Catarrh.

Water drinking, combined with a natural salt-free diet, is an invaluable remedy in cases of catarrh of the stomach. It increases digestive power and appetite by removing the mucus and poisonous fermenting material contained in this long-suffering organ. It thus arrests flatulence, heartburn and acidity, and enables the stomach to regain its healthy activity.

Water drinking has been found to be curative in almost every disease known to man, with, perhaps, the sole exception of heart disease or dilated stomach, and even these disorders might be prevented if water drinking had been resorted to in the early stages, before the disease had established itself.

Water in General “Nature Cure” Treatment.

As stated, combined with proper diet and hygiene, water is the remedy, par excellence, for practically all diseased states of the stomach and bowels. It is good for rheumatism, gout, defective eyesight, and all disorders directly or indirectly due to some perverted state of digestion or assimilation.

The best results are certainly obtained from the use of hot water, cold water being only used by those in a good state of health to quench thirst, or to relieve constipation, by means of the early tumblerful of cold water.

To follow out the hot water treatment by the methods usually advised, it is necessary to take about 2 to 4 pints daily in divided doses. The temperature of the water should be from 100°F. to 130°F., or that of an ordinary cup of tea properly made. 1 pint should be taken on rising, or before getting out of bed. Another should be imbibed at, or 1 hour before, bedtime. The remaining 2 pints should be consumed during the daytime and well between the meals, i.e., about 3 to 4 hours after a meal.

To get the best effect, the water must not be drunk quickly, but sipped very slowly and deliberately.

If nauseating, a little fresh lemon juice, or a little fresh fruit or tomato juice of some kind, can be used to make it more palatable.

Hot water, sipped and taken as thus directed, acts first of all as a diluent. By diluting the acids and poisons contained in a dilated and unhealthy stomach, it relieves headache, neuralgia and other symptoms and causes a dispersal of the irritants. As a stimulant it supplies to the tissues, and especially to the nerves, much needed energy. As a food it supplies heat which, otherwise, would have to be obtained from the heat-giving foods eaten.

The hot water treatment is also invaluable for sleeplessness, provided it does not produce an irritable state of the bladder.

The Salisbury Treatment.

This hot water method, combined with the use of minced lean beef, is an essential part of the well-known Salisbury Treatment. The immediate effects of this are highly salutary; the remote effects, however, are not good. Very few people can continue it strictly for more than a few days. It is very unnatural, artificial and revolting, and equally good results, which are permanent, accrue from simply drinking the water and greatly restricting the carbonaceous or starchy portion of the patient’s diet. This is practically what the Salisbury diet does in an extreme form, the meat being designed to supply proteid alone; to the exclusion of all starchy and sugary foods. As, however, much purer forms of proteid are obtainable in a pleasant form from “cottage cheese,” nuts, dried casein, etc., the meat is really quite unessential to the treatment.

Drink Water only Between Meals.

When water is ordered as part of a treatment, it should always be taken alone, and preferably distilled, for when mixed with any foods, such as milk, its virtue as a dissolvent—the very quality for which it was demanded—is practically lost.

Impurities in Water.

Water is liable, in one way or another, to become contaminated with various injurious elements. It may contain organic matter which may be a source of disease, and it always contains inorganic or crude mineral constituents, which it takes up from its contact with the earth.

If water contains organic animal or vegetable impurities, as might be the case when rain, spring or well water are the only sources available, it is imperative to treat this water in such a way that any living organic elements are destroyed. Impure water can only be rendered safe for human use by first thoroughly boiling. Then filtration will clear off its solid particles.

Rain Water.

Rain water possesses the great advantage of being soft and comparatively free from mineral constituents. It contains organic matter which it collects as it passes through the air. To a large extent this can be removed by boiling and filtration.

Tap Water.

Ordinary tap water as found in the regular supply of most towns is generally very hard, owing to the presence of lime and magnesia salts. Such water can be partially softened by boiling, which drives off the carbonic acid gas and so causes the carbonate salts to deposit. The remaining or permanent hardness due to other earthy salts, is not influenced by heat and can only be got rid of by distillation. Quicklime does the same thing as boiling, since it absorbs the carbonic acid gas, and allows the precipitated mineral salts to sink to the bottom of the vessel or vat used in treating the water.

The Virtues of Distilled Water.

Undoubtedly, the best means of purifying water consists in distillation, which completely removes any and every trace of mineral matter, besides all organic impurities. There are now quite a number of simple easily worked and inexpensive “stills” on the market, which can be used on an ordinary gas or oil stove, or on the kitchen range. Or distilled water can be bought as required in gallon jars from chemists.

Distilled water is probably the best possible form of water for all drinking and culinary purposes. It is, moreover, a magnificent solvent of bodily waste and if properly made and aerated is delicious to drink, either hot or cold.

Distilled Water not Unnatural.

The use of distilled water is not contrary to Nature, as some assert, for the purest water is rain water collected in a pure and lofty atmosphere. Moreover, rain water is distilled from the sea via the clouds.

Do Children Need Hard Water?

It is asserted that distilled water is not always advisable in the case of young children, owing to its absence of lime and magnesia salts, which on a theoretical basis are the salts which contribute to the formation of bone, etc. This assumes, of course, that inorganic mineral matter can be assimilated by the human body, which is very much open to doubt. All lime and other mineral salts to be assimilated by the animal organism require to be made organic—that is built up into the living plant tissues of fruits, vegetables, cereals, etc.—before they can be utilised by living animal tissues.

Distilled Water as a Preventive of Old Age.

In adult and advanced life distilled water is unquestionably always most beneficial, for the reason that inorganic lime and magnesia salts deposited in the tissues and walls of the arteries, are the chief cause of old age. It is an old and true saying that a man is as old as his blood-vessels (arteries).

WHEY.

This is the clear part of the milk after the cream and curd have been extracted from it. On the Continent the “Whey Cure” is a popular method of treatment for certain diseases and the patient takes 5 pints daily with vegetables and fruit.

To prepare it, warm 1 pint of milk to blood heat, then add to it a glassful of white wine or cider, set on one side till the curd has settled. Pour off the clear whey and season to taste. The curd, if washed in two changes of water, makes an excellent cream cheese, which is specially palatable when some fresh cream is added to it.

Lemon or Orange Whey

is specially advantageous for babies suffering from infantile scurvy. To make it, add the juice of 1 orange or lemon to a quart of milk, warm slowly (but do not boil) until the curds form, then strain and cool for use. A little honey or black treacle can be added to sweeten, if found too sour.

WINTERGREEN.

Wintergreen leaves and berries contain a good deal of natural salicylic acid and are thus an excellent remedy for rheumatism. The herb is usually taken in the form of an infusion or “tea,” made by pouring a pint of boiling water upon 1 oz. of the leaves. This is poured off the leaves when drawn, and a wineglassful taken at intervals.