RELATION OP FOOD TO NUTRIMENT. 267 



from ordinary work, require consideration in regimen. The good 

 cheer which includes considerable nitrogenous aliment, while pre- 

 judicial to a gouty subject, is beneficial to a man who takes much 

 exercise in the open air. The bread, which is " the staff of life," 

 must be withheld from the diabetic. So that no dietetic rules can 

 be laid down to suit all cases either in health or in sickness. 



Fixed Rules Impossible When the body is in a feverish 

 state, the mouth dry, the thirst great and the pulse accelerated, very 

 little gastric juice is secreted. In such a case, it is obviously im. 

 proper to take food which requires the solvent of the gastric juice 

 for its digestion. It may contain the essence of nourishment, be the 

 very best food cooked in the very best manner, but will prove utterly 

 useless in the stomach, irritating to it jand hence injurious. In the 

 feverish state, beef -steak is very unsuitable diet, especially if dished 

 up with onion-sauce and condiments, and washed down with beer. 

 Since no nourishment can be derived from it, it should be avoided 

 until the feverish symptoms have disappeared and the stomach has 

 regained its tone, however palatable the steak may be, or however 

 anxious friends may be to strengthen the patient. At the com- 

 mencement of fever everything is loathed, but cold water. After 

 a while the feverish symptoms abate, then toast or barley-water is 

 agreeable; then luscious fruits are desired and relished, and subse- 

 quently by .degrees the patient is able to satisfy his natural appetite, 

 convalescence becomes more rapid, and by and by beef -steak may 

 once more be eaten. All this is dietetic regimen. 



In brief, the regulation of diet is of importance to both the 

 healthy and the sick; but definite rules cannot be laid down by 

 which the diet may be regulated; each one must judge for himself 

 or must be guided tfy the judgment of others a judgment which 

 we hope may be intelligently formed and directed by a perusal of 

 the following pages. 



RELATION OF FOOD TO NUTRIMENT. 



Food has been defined as a substance which, when introduced 

 into the body, supplies material which renews some structure or 

 maintains some vital process. Medicine modifies some vital action, 

 but does not supply the material which sustains such action. A 

 supply of suitable food is therefore essential during the medical 

 treatment of disease ; for medicine alone will not, and is not designed 

 to, sustain life. Neither, on the other hand, will changes of food 

 so modify vital action when it is disordered as to render the admin- 

 istration of medicine superfluous. Nevertheless it must be allowed 

 that diet does play an important part in promoting recovery from 

 disease, and that some kinds of food do stimulate vital action in a 

 degree far beyond the actual amount of nutritive material they 

 supply. 



