INTRODUCTION. eo 
Provide me the neutral dope, mamma, 
Give a turn to the mixing machine ; 
But hand me the sterilized water first, 
And the oleo-margarine ; 
With the phosphates, too; for now I think 
His mate in the office has quit, 
So John will need more phosphate food 
To help his brain a bit.” 
It frequently becomes the duty of a doctor to see that the diet 
of his weakly patients is enriched in special directions, most 
commonly perhaps in those of light meats, and fats. But of 
course to advise chicken, and cream for a man with a slender 
purse would be a useless proceeding ; he simply could not afford 
to buy these luxuries. It is therefore worth while to remember 
that cheaper sources of the necessary building material are to 
be found in skim milk, in such oily fish as herrings and sprats, 
sound new cheese, and the more easily negotiated pulses, as 
lentils, haricot beans, etc.; whilst very economical forms of 
digestible fat—as Dr. Hutchison teaches—are margarine, and 
good dripping. On the contrary, with regard to drugs, which 
are costly, “there is not in all the Pharmacopeias a single 
active article, which has not in conjunction with its virtues 
the vice of deranging more or less the gastric digestion. It is 
this which makes it a medicine, and not a food.” 
Concerning diet as contravening the symptoms of diseases, 
Dr. Merriman, of Ohio, wrote thus (Medical Record, 1902), 
“The point I wish to make is this, that in my opinion the time 
is ripe for an entire revolution in the administration of drugs. 
The proper ingestion, and the proper digestion of food, constitute 
the most successful field of healing now known to man. Why, 
therefore, should not every well-informed physician write 
prescriptions exclusively for foods, whilst prohibiting those 
articles of diet which are known to induce conditions causative 
of the malady he is anxious to cure? Is not this the opportune 
moment for the physiological chemist to furnish reliable data 
upon which each physician may construct a suitable diet for 
_ every patient, or group of patients? Correct dietaries for the 
brain-worker, the manual labourer, and the average citizen 
whilst in good health, have been accurately estimated by the 
scientific experts in Government employ; but the properly 
adjusted diets for patients troubled with gout, theumatism, and 
allied illnesses (due mainly to harmful products retained within 
their bodies, and which must be helpfully neutralized, whilst their 
