No Thirst...Was Sir Robert Anderson Dehydrated In 1888 ?

[Debra Arif]

I actually gathered that, Debra - nevertheless, you will struggle to find half-litre wineglasses in any restaurant in my neck of the woods! That, however, counts for nothing if the ordinary Victorian wine glass WAS that large.

I still find Anderson a curious figure: drinking CAN be a vice - but drinking water...?

500ml wine glasses are found all over the place here but it's irrelevant really, Christer. I just thought my earlier estimate was a bit too little-maybe it wasn't, we can't know for certain. Chris's point, which I was agreeing with, was that Anderson didn't survive on one tumbler of water per day as was suggested.

As I said in another post, I remember my own mum telling me in the 70's that guzzling water wasn't good for me. I even wonder if in some point in time the public might have been told that! I bet even now there will be a study somewhere that suggests drinking two litres of water per day is bad for you! Food and drink fashion and fads have always existed.

[Debra Arif]

How much does a tea cup hold?

I bet Rob has one that holds a litre.

[Christer Holmgren]

Debra Arif: 500ml wine glasses are found all over the place here but it's irrelevant really, Christer. I just thought my earlier estimate was a bit too little-maybe it wasn't, we can't know for certain. Chris's point, which I was agreeing with, was that Anderson didn't survive on one tumbler of water per day as was suggested.

I fully agree - he really could not.

As I said in another post, I remember my own mum telling me in the 70's that guzzling water wasn't good for me. I even wonder if in some point in time the public might have been told that! I bet even now there will be a study somewhere that suggests drinking two litres of water per day is bad for you! Food and drink fashion and fads have always existed.

True enough. And maybe Anderson was just reflecting an overall sentiment in society that excess drinking was unhealthy. But the paper article does not do anything to clarify such a thing - in the contrary, it depicts the matter as an Andersonian whim.

[Debra Arif]

True enough. And maybe Anderson was just reflecting an overall sentiment in society that excess drinking was unhealthy. But the paper article does not do anything to clarify such a thing - in the contrary, it depicts the matter as an Andersonian whim.

It was something he adopted from the old general who'd served in India.
I think the "Artificial thirst" discussions of 1900 that Anderson got involved with were based on the fact that soldiers serving in Africa were suffering from the effects of disease from polluted water and solutions to curb drinking even in hot climates were being looked at to limit their exposure.

[Debra Arif]

It was a discussion based on the idea that the soldiers in Africa were drinking excessively and exposing themselves unecessarily to enteric fever etc because they came from the 'class' of people in society who couldn't go for more than an hour without drinking something and who had an 'artifical thirst'.

[Sam Flynn]

How much does a tea cup hold?

According to Dr Llewellyn's Bumper Book of Weights & Measures, a teacup holds - and I quote - "The entire blood volume of an average female streetwalker".

[Debra Arif]

And he was by no means the only one involved in the August 1900 hot topic of discussion supporting the general idea that restricting drinking to mealtimes only and not guzzling down water while exerting oneself in very hot sun was a sensible idea and led to less fatigue and less thirst while carrying out hard physical work.

[Christer Holmgren]

It was a discussion based on the idea that the soldiers in Africa were drinking excessively and exposing themselves unecessarily to enteric fever etc because they came from the 'class' of people in society who couldn't go for more than an hour without drinking something and who had an 'artifical thirst'.

Ah - well, that explains it, then. Thanks, Debra!