346 DIET IN WORM AFFECTIONS. 



their presence occasions excessive secretion, but there must be a 

 previous secretion in which they are developed. In scrofulous con- 

 stitutions there is a tendency to this excessive secretion. Food in a 

 partly digested state also favors their development. When worms, 

 are known to exist, measures should not only be taken for their 

 expulsion, but also for the correction of that unhealthy condition 

 of the alimentary canal which favors their existence. Injections 

 expel them, but only medicinal and hygienic treatment can be relied 

 on for improving the patient's health and preventing the reappear- 

 ance of the parasite. Open waters should not be drunk nor used in 

 the preparation of food without being previously boiled or filtered ; 

 raw or underdone meat, especially pork, ham, bacon or sausages, 

 should be avoided ; fruits and vegetables, such as lettuce, water 

 cress, etc., eaten raw, should be first washed in salt-and-water and 

 then fresh water and examined, for by eating raw, unwashed vegeta- 

 bles the eggs of worms find entrance into the body. Cooks and 

 butchers are more liable to be affected with tapeworm than other 

 persons, and in countries where uncooked flesh, fowl or fish is con- 

 sumed, intestinal worms abound. 



To correct the excessive and morbid intestinal secretion consid- 

 erable changes of diet are also generally necessary. The food should be 

 taken only at regular hours and selected with special reference to its 

 digestibility. It may include properly cooked animal food mutton 

 beef, fowl and white fish. Cakes, pastry, sweetmeats, sweet-made 

 dishes, new, waxy, half-cooked potatoes, butter, veal and pork 

 must be forbidden. Salt as a condiment should be taken freely 

 with the food, but salted meats should be avoided. 



The following scale of diet is recommended by Dr. Eustace 

 Sinith for a child over two years of age, to be given in four separate 

 meals in the course of the aay : 



" First meal Fresh milk diluted with a third part of lime- 

 water. A small slice of toast, or of dry, stale bread. 



" Second meal A small mutton chop, or a slice of roast-beef 

 or mutton, without fat; dry toast or stale oread. 



" Third meal A cup of beef-tea or mutton-broth, free from 

 grease; the yolk of a lightly boiled egg; dry toast. 



" Fourth meal (if necessary] The same as the first. 



It is not always easy to persuade children to submit readily to 

 the deprivation of starchy food, for which, and especially for pota- 

 toes, there is often in these cases a great craving. So long however 

 as a slimy appearance of the evacuations continues to be observed, 

 the above diet should if possible be adhered to. "When potatoes are 

 once allowed, they must be well boiled and should be afterwards 

 carefully mashed with a spoon. Steaming is generally the best 

 method of cooking potatoes. Gravy may be poured over them 

 before they are eaten. In cases where the appetite is lost and there 

 is disgust for food children often show an especial reluctance to take 

 meat which it is very difficult to overcome. A small bird, as a 



