INTRODUCTION. 7 
for every climate, for every species of work, physical, or mental ; 
there are diets by which diseases may be prevented, and cured ; 
there are diets fitted for some constitutions, injurious to others ; 
diets which make the skin glossy, the frame vigorous, and the 
spirits joyous ; others which mar the face with wrinkles, speckle 
the body with eruptions, and make the form lean, hollow, and 
prematurely old.” 
Two or three classes of disease may be taken as forcibly illus- 
trating the importance of treating them specially by foods such 
as are particularly indicated during their pathological course. 
Hippocrates thought most highly of good judicious feeding in 
fevers, Tecommending wine, and the ptisan of barley (which we 
now call gruel), so made that it “ may be thin, but not too thin : 
thick, but not too thick.” Dr. R. Graves, 1848, again, has ren- 
dered himself famous by maintaining not only in words, but 
also in deeds, that the feeding of fevers is the most essential 
feature in their cure. His plan was to restrict the patient only 
for the first three or four days to gruel, barley-water, and whey, 
proceeding quickly after this time to chicken broth, meat jelly, 
and strong soup ; the great art of duly nourishing fever patients 
consisting, as he taught, in giving a frequent, almost continuous, 
supply of liquid nourishment containing very soluble aliments, 
in a dilute form. ‘‘ Let it be the chief aim to restore that which 
the thoughtful observer can clearly see is passing exhaustively 
away,—nitrogenous tissue.” Likewise with regard to hysterical 
affections, such as hypochondriasis, and others of a like nature, 
a generous nitrogenous diet is essential in their treatment, 
particularly in one peculiar form of this malady which arises 
from eating too sparingly of vegetables, and too abundantly of 
meat. It is distinguished by the high specific gravity of the 
urine, mounting from 1025 to 1035, as dependent on the presence 
of urea alone, in excess, and no sugar. There is in these cases 
often a remarkable lassitude, and even an apparent paralysis 
of the limbs occurring suddenly after exertion, and sometimes 
there is bodily wasting; both of which symptoms usually lead 
the patient and his friends to attribute the morbid state to 
insufficient nutrition, and therefore to increase more and more 
the proportion of meat in the food, in despite of the ailment 
becoming aggravated thereby. A rapid cure of such a patient 
will attend the diminution of the meat meals to one daily, and 
the supplying their place with plenty of well-made porridge, 
