Loss of Minerals Through the Skin of Normal Humans When Sweating Is Avoided

Water is constantly vaporizing from the hu-man skin surface as an important part of the heat regulatory mechanism. There are two sources for water to be vaporized: there is always va-porization which occurs as a result of the water-rich human mass existing in a relatively dry at-mosphere. Water lost in this way is spoken of as " insensible loss of water. " When the amount of heat carried away by this process is insufficient to maintain the homeothermic state, an additional supply of water is pumped onto the surface of the skin by the sweat glands to aid in the cooling process. There have been many analyses of sweat; and quantitative studies of water and minerals lost