Water which appears perfectly clear may be badly contaminated with typhoid or other germs. For this reason no water should be used until it has been boiled if one is not sure of its purity. Water from wells near barns and cesspools is often impure.
“Hard” water, as derived from wells, is usually rich in calcium and magnesium. When water contains a large percentage of these substances, it usually causes constipation and indigestion and may aid in the formation of gall-stones or gravel.
The kidneys are especially the great eliminators of water and aid in maintaining the equilibrium of the blood. Except in conditions in which they need rest, water should be freely drunk in order to stimulate them to activity and to assist them in throwing off the body waste held in solution.
One cannot form a better habit than that of drinking two or three glasses of water on first arising and then exercising the stomach and intestines by a series of movements which alternately contract and relax the walls of those organs, causing their thorough cleansing.
This internal bath is as necessary as the cleansing of the skin. Often, in gastritis or a catarrhal condition of the stomach, a large amount of mucus will collect in the stomach over night, and the cleansing of the mucous lining of the digestive tract is then most important.
If in good health, two or three glasses of cool water, vigorous exercises for the vital organs, and deep breathing of pure air, followed by a cold bath, will do more to keep the health, vigor, clear skin, and sparkling eye than fortunes spent on seeking new climates, mineral waters, or tonics.
When cool water in the morning seems to chill one, a glass of hot water may be followed by a glass of cool.
The free drinking of water aids the activity of the skin, keeping the tissues moist and the glands active.
Effervescing waters are usually drunk for their cooling and refreshing effect. They should not be drunk to excess as they are usually combined with syrups or sugar and will thus occasion derangement of digestion, flatulence, and in some cases palpitation from the excess of gas which presses on the diaphragm and impedes the action of the heart.
Mineral waters are drunk for the action of the salts which they contain and are used for their laxative or their medicinal effect. Kissengen, Hunyadi Janos, Epsom, Carlsbad, and our own Saratoga are examples of laxative waters. These all contain sodium and magnesium sulphates and are known as “bitter” waters.