PRACTICAL HOME HEALING: WATER

Water is truly the “unique” substance. Of all the substances that are necessary to life as we know it on earth, water is by far the most important, the most wonderful; yet, most people know very little about it. Water, this simple liquid everyone takes for granted, is one of earth’s miracles. Because of its unique chemical properties, it is a maverick compound that seems to defy the normal scientific laws. If water behaved as it should according to molecular theory, blood would boil in the body, plants and trees would die from lack of food, the seas would become great masses of ice, and the world would be turned into an arid waste. Nearly every one of water’s unique properties is closely woven into the fabric of human life. Water covers three quarters of earth’s surface, amounting to 324,000,000 cubic miles. A further two million cubic miles is held underground, and 3,100 cubic miles in the atmosphere.

Using a very versatile and universal substance, water therapy provides a most effective and readily available remedy for a wide variety of problems. Apart from pure air, it is the most important element in nature for sustaining life.

Unfortunately, its use in the treatment of illness and the relief of pain is all too often overlooked, much to the detriment of many.

Records show that the use of water for remedial purposes dates back to Hippocrates, who lived around 500 B.C. He used water extensively in the treatment of disease, applying it both internally and externally. Ancient Egyptian pictures found in tombs depict people preparing for a bath. The early Persians and Greeks erected stately public baths, but it was the Romans who surpassed all other nations in the costliness and magnificence of their bathing facilities.

About the year 1600, Dr. Bell of Paris stated that public vapor baths were numerous and that in connection with city hospitals, nearly 130,000 baths were given in one single year to outside patients. Records show that almost two thousand years ago, the noted physicians Celus and Galen praised and glorified the bath as invaluable. The Germans, too, were fond of bathing, and during the decade of 1840-1850, Victor 1′iK-ssnitz re-established the use of water as a curative agent.

When taken internally, water itself undergoes no change In the body. Yet, it is absolutely essential for the maintenance of vital functions because it is the substance which enables the various organs to perform their life-sustaining processes. The circulatory system is especially dependent upon water because it is the solvent which floats the blood corpuscles, mid the nutritive and waste products carried by the blood. It is perfectly adapted for this purpose, circulating through the most delicate capillaries without friction and even passing through membranes into parts not accessible by openings.

The tissues and organs of our bodies are composed of cells, and seventy to ninety percent of what is inside the cell wall is composed of water. This water is by no means inert and unimportant. It is the chief dispersion medium of the protoplasm; that is, it is the liquid that dissolves, suspends, or otherwise disperses most of the various substances present in the cell. Water is the most highly effective solvent of in-organic compounds and it will also dissolve numerous organic substances.

There are many, many types of cells, all doing their individual work in the tissue or organ of which they are a part, but all need plenty of water in order to carry out their duties which all cooperate in maintaining a healthy body. It is this that makes water so important in the maintenance of health.

The cell is surrounded by a thin membrane wall. Inside this wall is a sophisticated communication set-up: dozens of power stations, a transport system, and an efficient government dictatorship. The healthy cell has power to absorb the nutrients it needs to carry out its work and to reject anything it considers to be an intruder, which includes anything that detracts from its normal function, such as viruses, bacteria, or harmful poisons. When the volume of water is increased in the body, more poisons are dissolved and removed through the cells in the eliminative organs: the lungs, the skin, kidneys, and intestines. By drinking plenty of water, we increase the rate of cell metabolism and, ultimately, the whole body’s ability to assimilate nutrients and disintegrate wastes. Thus, through internal and external therapy with water, every cell of the body can be brought into action in the fight against disease.

There are several qualities about water that make it an ideal substance for use in the treatment of human illness. Water has an exceptionally high heat capacity. It also has a high rate of heat conductivity, one of the highest for fluids, making it possible for even small changes in internal temperatures of one area to be quickly dispersed over large areas. Along the same line, water has a high heat of vaporization, which provides a cooling factor in organisms, generally through perspiration (vaporization) from body surfaces. Because our bodies are composed of such a high percentage of water, these qualities serve to keep our overall temperature relatively stable, even when rapid changes in the temperature of the environment occur.

The heat-absorbing capacity of water makes it especially valuable in applying heat to the body. If we use mercury as the basis for comparison, a pound of hot water will communicate thirty times as much heat to the body as a pound of mercury at the same temperature. Conversely, a pound of cold water will take away from the body thirty times as much heat as a pound of mercury at the same temperature. Hot or cold water will store or absorb a great amount of heat and will very readily communicate this change in temperature to things with which it comes into contact. When applied to the human body, it will very quickly cool or warm the skin, adjacent tissues, and underlying blood current.