DIABETES. 219 



thinner. This is the rule, but it is not without e\cepti< ..tly under 



man suiTering from diabe; lone. He 



hud not the slight. \vith him, and 



:ill In- complained of was th; could not get about comfortably. 



The breath of diabetic patients has usually a [H-MiIi. <Tistic 

 odour. They often suffer from boiiS and Carbuncles, iVi-'jii'-miy in ;m ;! . 



not a:i uncomm. > that the sight be< 



1); Tally a chronic disorder, CM on at iir.st insidiously, and 



under judiciou . ini prolong .how- 



it runs u very rapid obtuse. In mai: .. lungs become affected, and the 



.! uhiinutely dies from a form of consumption. 



Having enumerated the symptoms of <i uellitus, we will now proceed to 



consider the eircumstunces which favour its production. Ill the first place, it is twice 

 as common in men as it is in women. It prevails chiefly among young and middlc- 

 It is relatively more common in urban and manufacturing districts 

 than right out in the country. It is not usually considered to be an hereditary 

 6, but still, in some cases it would appear to run in families. It is difficult to 

 say from what it arises. In a considerable number of cases it has followed soon after 

 ure to wet and cold. In .some instances it is said to have been caused by 

 drinking cold water whilst the body was hot ; and in others it is supposed to have 

 been the result of alcoholic e A violent mental emotion has sufficed to pro- 



duce it. In one case it followed distress of mind caused by unjust suspicion of theft ; 

 in another it came on after the burning down of the patient's place of business ; 

 whilst in a third it was attributed to anxiety attendant 011 a Chancery suit. In one 

 instance it followed a violent fit of anger- a warning to bad-tempered people. There 

 can be no doubt that in many cases it has followed blows or falls on the head. 



In all cases of diabetes or suspected diabetes a medical man should be consulted. 

 It will not, in the majority of cases, be requisite to remain permanently under his 

 care. You will learn from him the exact nature of the complaint from which you 

 are suffering, and he will give you directions as to your mode of living and the 

 general method of treatment to be adopted. You will have to see him occasionally, 

 and he will require you to carry out his directions most implicitly. 



The first and foremost point to which attention must be paid in the treatment of 

 diabetes is the diet. The plan to be pursued is to withdraw, as completel 

 possible, but not too suddenly, all articles containing sugar or starch (which is easily 

 converted in the system into sugar), and to replace them by appropriate substitutes 

 from the vegetable kingdom and by animal food. It is well known that life and 

 strength may be sustained on a purely animal diet. The best proof of this is that 

 the inhabitants of the Arctic region subsist exclusively on the flesh and blubber of 

 seals, on fish, and such produce of the chase as the climate affords. Moreover, the 

 fur-hunters of British America, an extremely vigorous and muscular body of men, 

 subsist for many consecutive months on flesh alone. As the diabetic may take his 

 choice of almost any article of animal food, he is clearly in no clanger of dying of starva- 

 tion. The only articles derived from the animal kingdom which are absolutely forbidden 



