ON DIETETICS. 
439 
from the consumption of nutriment which the digestive sys¬ 
tem cannot appropriate; nor would it be consistent, even if it 
could, to allow a liberal diet, while our other therapeutic 
measures have a directly opposite tendency. The stomach 
would probably suffer in many cases if allowed to remain 
empty for any long time, from the solvent and irritating 
effects of its own secretion; hence a bland diet, easy of di¬ 
gestion, and not stimulating or highly nutritive is advisable ; 
and upon it, the animal can well subsist until the organism 
is capable of assimilating its ordinary aliment. In some 
instances an extreme disgust at the sight of food compels the 
employment of force in its administration, a necessity which 
cannot but be deplored from the disturbance occasioned to 
an animal whose life almost depends upon perfect quietude; 
nevertheless, for the reasons given, some diet is necessary, 
and the only thing to be done under the circumstances is to 
administer it as carefully as possible, always remembering 
that a small quantity of aliment taken voluntarily will be more 
advantageous to the animal than twice or thrice the amount 
forced into the stomach. Linseed tea and gruels of oatmeal, 
beanmeal, or flour, according to circumstances, may be easily 
administered by the ordinary drenching horn, two or three 
times a day. Any medicines which the case may require will, 
as a matter of course, be given at the same time. 
When from any causes, such as tetanus, throat disease, or 
extreme irritability of stomach, it becomes impossible to ex¬ 
hibit food by the mouth, we have recourse to enemata; ani¬ 
mal or vegetable food in fluid mixture may be injected into 
the rectum ; small quantities only are permissible, and conse¬ 
quently their more frequent administration is necessary. 
Dietetics for ike Convalescent State. 
After the subsidence of an active disease the restoration to 
perfect health commonly proceeds with extraordinary rapidity, 
the appetite being often excessive and the assimilative powers 
proportionately active in such cases; little care in the ar¬ 
rangement of the food is necessary, so that a liberal allow'- 
ance of nutriment be given. The ordinary provender will 
be eaten with avidity and with benefit, so that the animal be 
not allowed to eat to repletion. In other instances the pa¬ 
tient advances slowlv to the convalescent state, a fastidious 
appetite and impaired digestion retarding the recovery by 
preventing the animal eating, or at any rate appropriating, 
the material which the system really requires; the drenching 
horn we look upon as a last recourse. In the mean time the 
