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In the use of water upon such occasions, it may moreover be observed, that its temperature ought to be attended to; as a general rule it may be laid down, that in the cold stage it should be hot, in the hot, cold, and in the sweating, tepid.

With regard to the value of diluents, as capable of promoting the operation of other remedies, many observations of great practical importance might be adduced; but this subject will be more properly elucidated when we come to consider the influence of solubility in modifying the activity of medicinal substances, and which constitutes a very curious and interesting object of chemico-medical enquiry.

While speaking of Diluents it may be cursorily noticed, that water appears, under certain circumstances of the body, to suffer decomposition, and to have its elements appropriated to new combinations. Count Rumford has endeavoured to prove, that the surprisingly small quantity of solid food which is sufficient for nourishment, when converted into rich and palatable soup, is owing to the culinary process having prepared the water for chemical decomposition,^[237] and that this is ultimately effected during the act of Digestion.^[238] It cannot be denied that the exorbitant potation of water has a tendency to produce fat, but this may depend upon the vascular distention which is thus occasioned. Gin drinkers, before they become materially injured by the habit, grow extremely corpulent, as may often be witnessed in unfortunate cyprians of the lower orders. Can the hydrogen of the spirit contribute to this effect?