I too have wondered about dehydration. One group of temperance
activists in the 1830s and 1840s I studied in Manchester (UK) lived in
the centre of the Manchester/Salford conurbation by the highly
toxic River Irwell. The area contained chemical works and tanneries
making the chance of obtaining drinking water difficult. There would
also be little access to fresh fruit and vegetables.

How widespread were fruits drinks at this time? Most of temperance
drinks were made much later. Vimto, manufactured on the site of this
university,  was a late nineteenth century product.

So what could early teetotallers drink in the industrial areas of the
UK in the early nineteenth century. There were pasture meadows for
dairy cows within 2 miles but was the milk of the same quality as
now?

The question of dehydration has obviously struck a thread with many
of us and exposed much of our ignorance (well mine).


Margaret



Margaret Barrow
Joule Library
UMIST,
P.O. Box 88
Sackville St.,
Manchester M60 1QD

Tel +44 61 200 4932
Fax +44 61 200 4941
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