Homeostatic Limits to Safe Parenteral Fluid Therapy

A LEGEND displayed over the old apothecary shop in Williamsburg, Virginia, reads, "Deus major agit." When Walter Cannon entitled his book on homeostatic reactions The Wisdom of the Body he re-emphasized the role of innate forces in healing. The present report explores the possibility of so designing parenteral fluid therapy that patients may make full use of their homeostatic mechanisms during the critical period when the physician's order, rather than instinct, prescribes water and solute intake.The following sections deal, respectively, with the homeostatic mechanisms pertinent to the water, sodium, potassium, phosphate and dextrose needs of patients whose illness prescribes . . .