406  Gleanings  from  the  Medical  Journals.     { AmiJ|ustPi898lm* 
three  hours,  or  four  times  a  day.  He  claims  that  it  is  a  therapeutic 
substance  which  is  very  valuable  in  obstetric  practice,  and  is  cer- 
tainly superior  to  ergot  of  rye ;  it  does  not  present  the  incon- 
veniences of  the  latter,  and  may  be  administered  freely,  either  as  a 
curative  or  as  a  prophylactic  in  the  metrorrhagias  in  all  stages  of 
pregnancy,  labor  or  delivery;  and  during  the  puerperium,  it  is  also 
a  much  safer  remedy  in  the  hands  of  midwives  than  ergot  of  rye.- — 
N.  V.  Med.  Jour.,  May  21,  1898. 
DIET  FOR  CONSUMPTIVES. 
The  following  excerpts  are  taken  from  a  lecture  delivered  by 
Prof.  Reynold  W.  Wilcox,  M.D.: 
Gentlemen: — You  have  just  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  a 
number  of  cases  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis.  If  I  were  asked,  in 
patients  of  this  particular  class,  what  was  the  most  important  thing 
to  be  done,  I  would  say  "  feed  them."  It  is  more  important  than 
climate.  Feeding  stands  in  the  first  place,  but  it  presents  more 
difficulties  than  perhaps  any  other  phase  of  treatment.  You  may 
talk  as  much  as  you  please  about  tuberculosis  being  an  infectious 
disease ;  there  is  no  doubt  that  any  system  of  treatment  which  deals 
with  tuberculosis  as  an  infection,  and  which  ignores  the  patient,  is 
going  to  fail.  That  has  been  the  fault  with  laboratory  men,  but  it 
is  a  fault  which  they  are  fast  correcting.  The  findings  of  the  labor- 
atory deal  with  the  conditions  of  the  disease ;  we,  as  physicians, 
cannot  fail  to  consider  the  patient.  Without  going  into  the  question 
of  pulmonary  antiseptics ;  without  going  into  the  questions  in  rela- 
tion to  the  value  of  particular  drugs  in  their  direct  action  on  the 
results  of  the  activity  of  the  tubercle  bacilli,  or  upon  the  elimination 
of  ptomains,  we  shall  consider  the  question  of  prime  importance,/.*?., 
the  feeding  of  the  patient. 
#  x  *        'V  *  * 
The  true  diet  of  a  patient  suffering  from  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  I 
believe,  should  consist  of  meats,  starches  and  fats,  with  an  excess  of 
the  last,  and  a  certain  amount  of  phosphates. 
■x-  #  -X-  -x-  *  -x-  * 
Nothing  discourages  an  old  tuberculosis  patient  so  much  as  to 
find  that  he  is  bathed  in  a  cold,  clammy  perspiration.  This  can  be 
done  away  with  in  a  large  proportion  of  cases.  If  you  will  waken 
the  patient  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  sufficiently  to  take  a 
