DIET FOR CONSUMPTION. 317 



of value. The sphere of cod-liver oil is to supply animal heat, to 

 fatten the system and arrest tissue-waste; this io best accomplished 

 when active morbid processes and local irritation have subsided, for 

 then the system is in a condition to appropriate a larger amount of 

 nourishment. Care should be taken to avoid nausea or eructations 

 which generally result from the quantity or quality of the oil. The 

 large quantity of oil taken in some cases occasions disorder of the 

 digestive mucous membrane, or causes it to pass off with the evacu- 

 ations. The appearance of any oil unchanged in the evacuations is 

 a sign that the quantity given is too large to be digested. It is best 

 given at first in teaspoonful doses twice a day, with or immediately 

 after food ; if the stomach be intolerant of it, a teaspoonful, or for 

 young children ten or twelve drops, once a day. If there be still 

 difficulty in retaining the oil, it may be given just as the patient is 

 lying down to sleep. In cases of extreme irritability of the stomach, 

 cod-liver oil may be introduced into the system by inunction or rub- 

 bing the skin with the oil. 



The disagreeable effects of the oil are often due to the use of 

 inferior and unpalatable kinds. It should be as free from smell, 

 taste and color as possible, thus showing its careful and recent pre- 

 paration. Freshness is of great importance to its dietetic efficacy, 

 rrobably the best method of rendering the oil palatable is to have it 

 made up in bread, as it is then scarcely tasted. The proper propor- 

 tion is two to four tablespoon fuls of the oil to one pound of dough. 



Coffee or milk forms a good vehicle for the oil. Some find the 

 taste removed by eating herring, sardine or anchovy with it. The 

 juice of half an orange may be squeezed into a wineglass, the 

 requisite quantity of on poured on the top, and the juice of the other 

 half orange carefully squeezed on the top of the oil. Orange and 

 ginger-wine or claret are also vehicles for cod-liver oil. The oil 

 should be poured upon the wine, so that it does not touch the glass, 

 but floats as a large globule; in this way it may be swallowed 

 untasted. A few morsels of agreeable food should then be eaten. 

 Small pieces of ice in each dose render it almost tasteless. Another 

 plan to obviate taste and nausea is to take a pinch of salt immed- 

 iately before and after the oil. By heating the oil, it is rendered 

 less liable to disagree with the patient. It is also beneficial to omit 

 taking it for a day or two occasionally. The glass should be care- 

 fully washed after use, and the oil kept in a cool place. Be careful 

 that none but a pure article is used. 



Children The diet of the children of consumptive parents is 

 of such importance that it should engage attention from the earliest 

 period of life. If the mother be delicate and predisposed to con- 

 sumption, a wet-nurse of a thoroughly healthy constitution should, 

 if possible, be provided. If a consumptive mother nurse her infant, 

 she is in danger of bringing into activity the tubercular disease in 

 herself ; while the child is but imperfectly nourished, and derives, 

 with the supply of milk, an element of danger additional to that 



