THE WATER DRINKERS

The benefits of drinking adequate amounts of water daily is well established. Indeed, even this blog has discussed this subject in prior postings.

Generally, water drinking is a matter of individual personal choice. However, from time to time, it also has become a matter of group action. For example, in the 19th century, French novelist and poet Henri Murger was a member of a club called "The Water Drinkers." He and his friends were too poor to buy and drink wine, so they became water drinkers. Apparently, all that water was beneficial for Murger. He wrote Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, which became the basis for Puccini's opera La Boheme and other musical works. Murger once exclaimed "No music, no noise, no Bohemia". Perhaps he could have added water to that list.

Another group of water drinkers are those who sip the medicinal spring water at Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad)in the Czech Republic. A graphic report of these water drinkers was written by a New York Times correspondent in 1860, "Bohemia; Gossip From Carlsbad--the Water Drinkers..." The article states, in part:

"It is 5 o'clock A.M., (be kind enough to imagine the thing, if possible,) and, as I open my window and look up into the dull gray eve of the sky, and read the rainy destiny of the day there, streams of people, of both sexes and of all ages glide silently through the streets, giving each other morning salutations in a dismal sort of way, and looking,in spite of polite disguises, terribly out of sorts at having hurried out so early. So steady is the concourse that the town already assumes an inconveniently crowded appearance, and one begins to wonder where all the people will fine accommodations. Expect [sic.] that the promenaders are considerably cleaner than any pilgrims it has ever been my good fortune to meet with, they might readily be mistaken for religious devotes piously wending their way to some favored shrine. They are only water drinkers--the early topers of this place, who have to drink eight or ten goblets before breakfast, and therefore commence with the first daylight. Each one, you will perceive, bears a cup of porcelain or glass--here called Bechers, and warranted to hold six ounces--as a talisman herewith to exercise the demons of disease, and cast them out."

The water is sourced from several springs of different temperature and chemical composition, and therefore, for specific maladies of the particular drinker. The article describes one spring as follows: "The hottest spring has a temperature of 160, and is generally recommended to individuals of a phlegmatic temperament and of a torpid or inert nature. It is called the Sprudel, and is generally regarded as most powerful, exciting and penetrating in its nature, and for those reasons recommended to patients affected with gout, urinary concretions, or with chronic diarrhea, arising from atony and relation of the bowels, and to females suffering from spasmodic affections."

The spa is still very much in operation, as I can attest, having sampled one cup of the least offensive water with a grimace. One point not mentioned in the article is the necessity for nearby WC facilities for use as the waters are absorbed.

While the benefits of drinking only water for health , or to save money, or to cure ailments, or to stimulate creativity are apparent, there may be some evidence to the contrary.

Over 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Horace is said to have uttered "No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers."

And, Paul told Timothy "Stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." (1 TIMOTHY 5:23)

So, perhaps a healthy balance between water drinking and wine drinking may make sense.
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