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Abstract
Black's groundbreaking research into water and electrolyte metabolism yielded a new insight into the effects of water deprivation and the complex, and potentially lethal, effects resulting from loss of, or imbalance between, sodium, potassium, and magnesium salts. The findings on potassium metabolism established his international reputation and became an essential part of the teaching and practice of surgery and medicine. Admiration for his practical work was tinged with a high regard for his courage in making experiments on himself to examine the extremes of potassium deficiency and potassium loading. His textbooks, Sodium Metabolism in Health and Disease (1952) and Renal Disease (1979) which he edited, became standard works, and in a more philosophical vein he wrote The Logic of Medicine (1968).