Distilled Water. At the present day, most sea-going vessels are provided with apparatus for distilling the water of the ocean, and so producing a pure and wholesome but insipid water, which can be rendered, however, more palatable by agitation with plenty of fresh air. Hence, the horrible agony of death by thirst among sailors is now much less frequent than formerly, although mariners in open boats, or cast upon small uninhabited islands, still sometimes scan with anxious eyes the briny waste around them, beholding

"Water, water every where, but not a drop to drink."

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This article tells me something that I had never heard of before as they mention that sea going vessels at the turn of the last century had water distilling devices that they could use to generate water.  Today, we tend to think of swimming pools and home theater seating and tennis and buffets.  Definitely a difference in culture and technology and what you can do with it all.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Nature’s Treasures Open to Man
  
  

  Nature’s Treasures Open to Man.- all this is a very complicated and diversified process, the necessity for which can only be explained on the hypothesis that nature, in her exhaustless munificence, has opened her proud domains, and poured forth to man the treasures of every land and every sea for food; the cornfields waved their golden grain for him; the wheat, rye, oats, corn, maize, rice, each different, yet highly nutritious and sufficing; the Palm, the date, the banana, the fig, a pineapple, spread out a delicious harvest on the air; the luscious apple, peer, beach, plum, cherry, tempt his ready hand; the potato, the beat, the turnip, tomato, cabbage, the pea, cauliflower, and a thousand other good things, incite his appetite, whilst to this feast is added the flesh of birds, of oxen, of sheep, of swine and of fish; that before the waving wheat and corn, the flesh of other animals, the fruits and farinaceous foods, the running water, the luscious oyster and fish, etc., can be transformed into the refined in spiritual organization of man, it must be thoroughly prepared by the several steps in the digestive process — then, and only then, is it permitted to enter into and co-mingle with the highly complex, nutritious and life-sustaining fluid, the blood.

   

  Wow, now that was really a mouthful.  I thought I would never finish all of those extra long lists that attempted to catalog everything that was possible to be from each of the food groups in a single sentence.  You may not realize it but that entire paragraph up above was one single sentence or as any of my teachers throughout any of my classes with state, that was one great big freaking run on!

  Absolutely ridiculous the number of semicolons and comas that were used throughout that entire mess.  I think I probably put on 5 pounds just reading that great big run on a sentence about food. I have to buy a new can of Miracle burn just to speed up my metabolism. I have to wake up in the morning and compete in an Ironman competition just get back on an even keel. Regardless Dragon Naturally Speaking definitely had a lot of fun with that one!

• From Mothers Home Nursing Families to Nurses Traveling Across the US
  
  

  I was doing some research on nursing last night and I came across an interesting trend.  Nurses today in the present-day are finding in taking temporary positions that enable them to travel across the United States to work as a nurse in multiple locations, or should say in different locations.  So for example if you are a nurse and you wanted to spend the winter in Miami, you could accept a position as a travel nurse and work in Miami for two or three months during the middle of winter.  These positions seem to be available all around the United States, and they offer outstanding pay rates and even benefits that are normally associated with full-time work such as a 401(k) plan.

  This concept of travel nursing seems to have evolved and changed over the years quite a bit.  As we continue to dig within the book of medicine, we are repeatedly reminded that the book was written 90 years ago for an audience primarily consisting of mothers caring for their families and nurses in remote locations where other medical care was unavailable.  A single doctor might cover a single town or even a county or territory back then.  A traveling nurse back then might have to go by horseback to take care of an ailing patient, or they might work in a hospice or alms house typically for very low pay if they were paid anything at all.  Room and board were actually the standard pay of the time.

  Fast-forward 90 years and the situation has changed dramatically.  Nursing is very high in demand to the extent that people will actually pay a nurse to travel across the country and work for a few months at a time.  Part of this is probably driven by the shortage of nurses and a number of different areas and part of it probably relates to the fact that elderly and ailing patients are much more mobile these days.  It has been very common for a couple decades now for people to travel south for the winter to Florida or Phoenix or even Southern California.  This influx of people that need medical attention seems to be matched by nurses that are willing to go to those locations and work.  Furthermore, were not necessarily talking about a live-in nurse that works 24 hours a day taking care of an elderly patient, were talking about a nurse that works a shift sometimes in a home sometimes a hospital or other medical facility.  That leaves pony of time for a real life after hours and many opportunities to explore the location that they’re visiting. 

• Arteries and the Purpose of the Spleen
  
  

  Intercostal Arteries.–the intercostal arteries and veins are beautifully illustrated in the chart.  The veins return the blood to the heart.  The large ascending and descending venae cavae are seen in this illustration.

  Meaning of artery.–from the fact that death arteries are empty, the ancients believed in to contain air, whence their name, derived from aer, air, and terco, I keep, which literally means, air ducts.

  The Spleen.– the spleen is a spongy organ, of a living color, oval in figure and situated in the left upper part of the abdomen and immediately behind the stomach.  It’s weight very from four to 10 ounces.  It is largely composed of cells, but it’s function is little understood, though from its position is believed to be in some way useful to the stomach during the process of digestion.

  _____________

  We are moving rapidfire through the section and were just about ready to come up on the next section of charts, chart 3.  Shortly after chart 3 we will then hit two of the book of medicine and we will move into anatomy and physiology.

  So sit back, if you’ve got any questions stop by our reception desks and ask her receptionist in the meantime enjoy our translation of the book of medicine.

  As to the known purpose of the spleen today (according to Ask Yahoo! the definitive answer on everything and nothing at all)

  • filtering out foreign organisms that infect your blood
  • removing your old or damaged platelets and red blood cells
  • storing extra blood and releasing it as needed
  • forming some types of white blood cells