e
mentions a young man of twenty who drank six gallons of water daily. He
was tormented with thirst, and if he abstained he became weak, sick,
and dizzy. Throughout a long life he continued his habit, sometimes
drinking a gallon at one draught; he never used spirits. There are
three cases of polydipsia reported from London in 1792.

Field describes a boy with bilious remittent fever who would drink
until his stomach was completely distended and then call for more.
Emesis was followed by cries for more water. Becoming frantic, he would
jump from his bed and struggle for the water bucket; failing in this,
he ran to the kitchen and drank soapsuds, dish-water, and any other
liquid he could find. He had swallowed a mass of mackerel which he had
not properly masticated, a fact proved later by ejection of the whole
mass. There is a case on record a in which there was intolerable
thirst after retiring, lasting for a year. There was apparently no
polydipsia during the daytime.

The amount of water drunk by glass-blowers in a day is almost
incredible. McElroy has made observations in the glass-factories in his
neighborhood, and estimates that in the nine working hours of each day
a glass-blower drinks from 50 to 60 pints of water. In addition to
this many are addicted to the use of beer and spirits after working
hours and at lunch-time. The excreta and urine never seem to be
perceptibly increased. When not working these men do not drink more
than three or four pints of water. Occasionally a man becomes what is
termed "blown-up with water;" that is, the perspiration ceases, the man
becomes utterly helpless, has to be carried out, and is disabled until
the sweating process is restored by vigorously applied friction. There
is little deleterious change noticed in these men; in fact, they are
rarely invalids.

Hydroadipsia is a lack of thirst or absence of the normal desire for
water. In some of these cases there is a central lesion which accounts
for the symptoms. McElroy, among other cases, speaks of one in a
patient who was continually dull and listless, eating little, and
complaining of much pain after the least food. This, too, will be
mentioned under abstinence.

Perverted appetites are of great variety and present many interesting
as well as disgusting examples of anomalies. In some cases the tastes
of people differ so that an article considered by one race as
disgusting would be held as a delicacy by another class. Th