660 GENERAL THERAPEUTIC MEASURES 



For carnivora, meat extracts, milk, eggs, broths and meat 

 juice. Ill most wasting diseases, fat, protein and water are 

 the food elements especially needful. An abundance of 

 water stimulates the appetite, secretions, excretions, tissue 

 changes and vital processes generally. Salt should be given 

 freely as an aid to digestion in increasing the formation of 

 hydrochloric acid, and indirectly that of pepsin. Alcohol, 

 being a nutritive mid capable of easy absorption, assimila- 

 tion and decomposition in the body, forms a most valuable 

 adjunct to a restorative diet. A deficiency of lime in the 

 food is occasionally the cause of rickets in the young, 

 and fragilitas ossium in the old, but more frequently these 

 diseases are due to defective digestion, assimilation, or 

 excessive lactation. Bone meal may be fed to advantage in 

 such affections. It contains both lime and phosphoric acid 

 and should be given in small quantities (1 tablespoonful to 

 large animals ; 1 teaspoouful to small patients) on the food 

 in conuection with the administration of hydrochloric acid 

 and bitters. 



In fever a restricted diet is often xiecessary in the more 

 acute stages, with loss of appetite, diminished secretions 

 and movements of the stomach, but as soon as convalescence 

 sets in the increased tissue waste produces an excessive 

 demand for food and the digestive organs may become over- 

 taxed. The initial dietetic treatment of fevers consists in the 

 use of oats, bran mashes, and gruels, with the addition of a 

 small quantity of grass or roots for horses. The change 

 from this diet should be very gradual to a dry, coarse fodder,, 

 in order to avoid digestive disorders. The bitters, alcohol,^ 

 hydrochloric acid, and salt, together with a copious su[)ply 

 of water, will furthermore aid convalescence. Carnivora, 

 with fever, should be fed milk, beef juice, broth, bread, oat- 

 meal aud a small quantity of cooked lean meat. 



Obesity is treated most advantageously by proper feed- 

 ing. A certain amount of fat is essential in the body in 

 lubricating the tissues, in acting as a protection against cold, 

 in serving as an enveloping and shielding cushion to the un- 



