Page:Food and cookery for the sick and convalescent.djvu/80

48 Many people are accustomed to boil water for drinking purposes. Hard water, due to the presence of carbonates of lime, is rendered soft by boiling with a small quantity of bicarbonate of soda (NaHCO3).


 * 1. To quench thrist.
 * 2. To nourish.
 * 3. To regulate body temperature.
 * 4. To assist in carrying off waste products.
 * 5. To maintain the proper degree of dilution for all the fluids of the body.
 * 6. To stimulate the nervous system and various organs.
 * 7. To form a part of all cell life, as metabolism cannot go on without it.

Cold water to a small extent retards gastric digestion, but increases peristalsis. If a glassful is taken before breakfast and upon retiring, it often cures constipation.

Tepid water is successfully used as an emetic, 90° F. being the temperature at which it is administered.

Hot water acts as a stimulant to gastric digestion. It leaves the stomach more quickly and is more quickly absorbed than cold water. Hot water relieves thirst better than cold water. It will also relieve nausea,—a small quantity of crushed ice having the same effect.

Water has many uses of valuable importance to man which ought to be mentioned; namely, for transportation, manufacturing purposes, and the generation of electrical power; but the purpose of this work is to consider it as a cleanser, an antiseptic, and a source of infection. The relation which bathing bears to health need hardly be emphasized, as it has for so long a time been duly recognized. Frequent bathing keeps the pores of the skin open, thus enabling much waste matter to be eliminated. Water is a carrier of disease germs, and too frequent are the cases of typhoid fever caused by drinking water. The only sure way of destroying pathogenic germs