Butte Record

Drinking Water.—It was further observed, that cold water swallowed during the process of digestion, instantly arrested it, and the process was not resumed until the water had been there long enough to be warmed from the temperature at which it was drank, to that of the stomach; or from some forty degrees, to a hundred. To accomplish this, the heat must be abstracted from the general system, chilling it. Strong, robust persons may not feel this, but if a person in feeble health drink cold water at a meal, at all largely, he rises from the table chilly, and soon has fever: while the stomach, being kept that much longer at work in digesting the food, loses its vigor, the digestion is imperfect, and the food becomes impure—thus laying the foundation of disease. The inevitable inference from these facts is, that cold water injurious to health if taken at meals. Injurious to the most robust, if taken copiously, and to persons in feeble health, if taken at all beyond a few swallows, at the meals.

I therefore set it down as a clearly established fact, that a glass or more of cold water, drank habitually at meals, or soon after, is a pernicious practice, even to the most healthy.

Injury is done in another manner; water or any other fluid, dilutes the gastric juice, and thus weakens its power to dissolve the food. The amount of gastric juice is not lessened, but its power is diminished by its dilution. The finger will be scalded by dipping it into a vessel of boiling water; but if an equal amount of water is added it may be thrust in with impunity, although there is as much heat in the mass as before; but it is more diffused. A glass of brandy will almost strangle a person not accustomed to it, but if largely diluted, it gives discomfort, although all the brandy is there that was there before.

We have then made another advance. That any kind of fluid largely taken at a meal, or soon after, is positively injurious to health.

"Largely" is a relative term. A glass of cold water, or two cups of coffee or tea is a large amount of fluid for one meal. Thus, a standing item of advice to my patients is—Take but half a glass of water at a single meal, or a single cup of weak tea or coffee, never increasing the strength or quantity, and drink nothing within an hour after any meal.

If cold drinks are injurious at meals cold food is, for the same reason, also injurious; thus it is that some of the most terrible forms of disease are brought on by persistence in eating cold food exclusively, in winter time. If cold fluids are injurious at meals, we naturally conclude that warm fluids, in moderation, are beneficial, and rightly so.— The young of the animal creation are furnished with sustenance warmed by nature; and the choice morsel is warmed in the beak in the parent bird, before arriving at the nest of her young. We instinctively, almost prepare something warm for the weary or the invalid; hence the virtue of times ascribed to drinking milk, warm from the cow, not a very palatable it must be confessed. It then follows, that if we drink any thing at meals it should be first warmed.— Dr. Hall.