Medicine: Salt for Fatigue

Some years ago a German physician reported that workers in the mines could be relieved from fatigue by small doses of sodium phosphate. Now Professor Neville Moss of the University of Birmingham claims that miners working in a temperature of about 100° become exhausted less easily when drinking water that contains even 0.2% of common salt. The British physiologist, J. S. Haldane, explains this as due to the fact that the salt added to the drinking water makes up for that taken from the body by perspiration. Scientists are inclined to regard the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!