AMONG THE INVALIDS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1190, 21 December 1894, Page 14

AMONG THE INVALIDS.

It is very desirable that anyone who has ' the care of a family, and so, sooner or later, of the sick, should be ready for all emergencies of disease and accident. And as a great part of the care of the sick lies in their fit nourishment, it is equally desirable to know just what dishes are the best and most sustaining for the ailing and the convalescent. For it goes without saying that certain aliment which is good for one thing is bad for another; thus beef tea (which has gone through various phases of approbation and contempt, and is now again in partial favour, as it is said to be an excellent stimulant, if not an entirely satisfactory food, and to have good reparative properties in certain cases) should not be given in either rheumatic fever or typhoid, as it is both heating and aperient, whey in such instances replacing its use. As a usual thing, where mutton broth is allowed, veal and chicken broth can also be given, more for the sake of variety, however, than for any other reason, as a patient is very apt to feel disgust if fed too long on any one thing. Calves’ feet jelly, which was once a great thing to rely on, and then fell into desuetude, has been restored to favour in some degree, on the authority of the usage of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

Milk, however, is the diet on which most physicians fall back in emergencies, as being the. natural food of mankind and of all mammalia, preferable to the various gruels, that have a tendency to acidity. Where milk is not easily digested, limewater should be mingled with it—a tablespoonful to a goblet. Being tasteless, it does not change the> flavour of the drink. But occasionally salt or bicarbonate of soda may be used instead, the latter being best where there is constipation. Where milk will not digest at all, cream, diluted with as much hot water, will sometimes answer as well. Milk in a tablespoonful dose every half-hour, one-third of it lime-water, can be given when no other food, can be retained, and will sustain the patient till more can be taken. In great of the stomach, koumiss is prescribed, as it checks nausea in its various stages. When isinglass is boiled in milk, making blanc-mange, the result is a very delicate and easily-digested food. At other times, merely scalding ~ a stick of cinnamon in milk gives a very pleasant pungency by way of change; where there is a weakness of bowels especially, and hot milk, not boiled, is thought usually to preserve the energy better than cold milk does. When a patient is recovering from an illness, digestion in a measure re-established, .but strength still wanting, the yolk of an egg two or three times a day is nourishing and good, taken in wine or in'milk. This is better whole than beaten, as less air is taken with it then, and after a little practice it is no more difficult to. swallow than an oyster is. After night sweats, a drink of cold tea in the morning acts as a inild tonic.