Heat Cramps. A Clinical and Chemical Study

The regulation of the interchange of water and salt in the body is a delicate and very precise mechanism. Haldane and Priestley (1) found no change in the percentage of hemoglobin in the blood after ingestion of large amounts of water plus salt. Later Priestley (2) reported a diminu-tion in the electrical conductivity of the serum following an increased water intake and an increase of conductivity after ingestion of salt solu-tion. Crawford (3), Adolph (4) and others confirm these findings. Because of experimental difficulties fewer data are available concerning a restricted intake of these constituents in normal men. The increased output of water and salt, however, especially in urine, sweat and vomitus, has been studied extensively. Gamble and Ross (5) found a marked reduction in body weight in dogs after experimental pyloric obstruction. This loss of weight and inability to assimilate ingesta from vomiting was essentially referable to a loss of water plus sodium and chloride ions. Sweating is another mechanism by which salt and water are lost from the