440 
ON DIETETICS. 
patient’s taste may be consulted, and any tempting morsels 
offered; the admixture of condiments is sometimes the most 
ready method of provoking appetite and aiding digestion ; 
salt, turmeric, aniseed, and various spices are at different 
times effective in combination with the ordinary diet. 
One golden rule deserves unceasing repetition, viz., never 
to leave any food which the animal has refused in his sight 
or within his reach; and second only to this maxim is ano¬ 
ther, which insists on scrupulous cleanliness in the hand 
which touches the provender and the vessel which contains 
it. Let those who question the necessity for such delicacy 
observe how the horse and other animals test everything by 
the sense of smell, and judge how important it is that the 
extreme sensitiveness of the sick subject should not be out¬ 
raged by even an offensive odour. 
When extreme debility is present, food must be selected 
with care, as the digestive function is easily disturbed. The 
diet for such cases should be tolerably rich in starch and 
sugar, as deficiency of reparatory material is often more se¬ 
rious than diminution of the muscular structure, hence the 
value of mixtures containing oil-cake, linseed, potatoes, and 
in human medicine various forms of farinaceous material or 
gelatine, which are erroneously called nutritious, but which, 
although wanting in this respect, are precisely adapted to 
that condition of system in which they are usually prescribed— 
a condition marked by a peculiar decrease of the fatty tex¬ 
ture and extreme emaciation. The exaggerated statements 
of the effects of diet mainly constituted of gelatinous princi¬ 
ples, such as a preparation of snails or oysters given in the 
treatment of consumption, owe their existence to the recog¬ 
nised benefits which follow the consumption of food capable 
of supplying the elements of fat, while the medicinal value of 
cod-liver oil, naphtha, and other hydrated carbons may be 
safely ascribed in great part to the same circumstance. 
No amount of nutriment is of the least use to the organism 
so long as there is a deficiency of fuel for the respiratory 
function, as under such conditions healthy assimilation is 
impossible. 
The development of the muscular system will follow as 
soon as the animal is sufficiently recovered to take exercise; 
during the period of absolute inaction we shall in vain try to 
preserve the integrity of this structure, but no difficulty is 
found in keeping up the proper quantity of fatty texture, or 
at least enough to afford an amount of reparatory material 
equal to the wants of the system, while the patient is yet too 
prostrate to be exercised with safety. 
