Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1907 — Why Drink Water? [ARTICLE]

Why Drink Water?

Why should man or beast drink water In stormy weather? Why not absorb It through the pores of the skiu? A fairly well known writer and poet once Informed me In all seriousness that he had never swallowed a drop of water since he was old enough to do his own thinking. When thirsty he would lie in a bath and drink through ibis pores. He was always In a state of sensible and insensible perspiration. One day I had the temerity to Inquire whether he drank through his sebasftous or perspiratory glands; that Is, through grease or sweat He refused to make reply. A learned physician asserted that man could not absorb enough water through bis skin to keep him alive, the pores, or glands, being secretory and excretory. That is to say, they do not drink. “If a fellow could drink through his skin,” he said, “he could eat through It as well. He could He down In a bathtub of broth, beef tea or good, strong chicken soup and drink through 2,500,000 glands all at once. Or he might take a dip in a tub of whisky and get 2,500,000 drams In a minute without getting a stinking breath. When mankind can drink and eat through the epidermis and derma there will be no more use for stomachs or doctors.” — New York Press.