(874) SIC for tea. In general, the dry and dirty tongue always prefers tea to coffee, and will quite decline milk, unless witli tea. Coffee is a better restorative than tea, but a gi-eater im- pairer of the digestion. Let the patient's taste decide. You will say that ia_ cases of great thirst the patient's craving decides that it will th-ink a great deal of tea, and that you cannot help it. But in those cases be sure that the patient requires dilutents for qiiite other purposes than quenching the thirst ; he wants a great deal of some drink, not only of tea, and the doctor will order what he is to have — barley-water or lemonade, or soda-water and milk, as the case may be. " It is often recommended to persons about to go through great fatigue, either from the kind of work, or from their being not in a state fit for it, to eat a piece of bread before they go. I wish the recommenders would themselves try the experiment of taking a piece of bread instead of a cup of tea or coffee as a refresher. They would find it very poor comfort. When men have to set out fasting on fatigue duty, when nurses have to go fasting in to their patients, it is a hot restorative they want, and ought to have, before they go, and not a cold bit of bread and butter. If they can take a bit of bread with the hot cup of tea, so much the better, but not instead of it. The fact that there is more nourishment in bread than in almost anything else has probably induced the mistake. That it is a mistake there is no doubt. ' ' Englishmen and women who have under- gone great fatigue, such as taking a long jour- ney without stopping, or sitting up for several mghts in succession, almost always say that they can do it best upon a cup of tea. It is also the best refreshment before going out to a long day's work. "Cocoa is often recommended to the sick instead of tea or coffee. But, independently of the fact that English sick very generally dis- like cocoa, it has quite a dift'erent effect from tea or coffee. It is an oily, starchy nut, having no restorative power at all, but simply increasing fat ; it is pure mockery of the sick, therefore, to call it a substitute for tea. For any refresh- ment it is possessed of, you might just as well offer them chestnuts instead of tea. " An almost universal error among nurses is in the bulk of the food, and especially the drinks, they oft'er to their patients. Suppose a patient were ordered four ounces of brandy during the day ; how is he to take this if you make it into four pints by diluting it ? The same with tea and beef tea, with arrowroot, milk, &c. You have not increased the nourishment, you have not increased the renovating power of these articles by increasing their bulk — you have very likely diminished both by giving the patient's digestion more to do, and most likely of all, the patient will leave half of what he has been ordered to take, because he cannot swallow the bulk with which you have been pleased to invest it. It requires very nice observation and care (and meets with hardly any) to determine what will be too thick or strong for the patient to take, while giving him no more than the bulk which he is able to swallow."

AI-modernized reading of the original text

(874) SIC for tea. In general, the dry and dirty tongue always prefers tea to coffee, and will quite decline milk, unless witli tea. Coffee is a better restorative than tea, but a greater impairer of the digestion. Let the patient's taste decide. You will say that in cases of great thirst the patient's craving decides that it will think a great deal of tea, and that you cannot help it. But in those cases be sure that the patient requires dilutents for quite other purposes than quenching the thirst ; he wants a great deal of some drink, not only of tea, and the doctor will order what he is to have — barley-water or lemonade, or soda-water and milk, as the case may be. " It is often recommended to persons about to go through great fatigue, either from the kind of work, or from their being not in a state fit for it, to eat a piece of bread before they go. I wish the recommenders would themselves try the experiment of taking a piece of bread instead of a cup of tea or coffee as a refresher. They would find it very poor comfort. When men have to set out fasting on fatigue duty, when nurses have to go fasting in to their patients, it is a hot restorative they want, and ought to have, before they go, and not a cold bit of bread and butter. If they can take a bit of bread with the hot cup of tea, so much the better, but not instead of it. The fact that there is more nourishment in bread than in almost anything else has probably induced the mistake. That it is a mistake there is no doubt. ' ' Englishmen and women who have undergone great fatigue, such as taking a long journey without stopping, or sitting up for several nights in succession, almost always say that they can do it best upon a cup of tea. It is also the best refreshment before going out to a long day's work. "Cocoa is often recommended to the sick instead of tea or coffee. But, independently of the fact that English sick very generally dislike cocoa, it has quite a different effect from tea or coffee. It is an oily, starchy nut, having no restorative power at all, but simply increasing fat ; it is pure mockery of the sick, therefore, to call it a substitute for tea. For any refreshment it is possessed of, you might just as well offer them chestnuts instead of tea. " An almost universal error among nurses is in the bulk of the food, and especially the drinks, they offer to their patients. Suppose a patient were ordered four ounces of brandy during the day ; how is he to take this if you make it into four pints by diluting it ? The same with tea and beef tea, with arrowroot, milk, &c. You have not increased the nourishment, you have not increased the renovating power of these articles by increasing their bulk — you have very likely diminished both by giving the patient's digestion more to do, and most likely of all, the patient will leave half of what he has been ordered to take, because he cannot swallow the bulk with which you have been pleased to invest it. It requires very nice observation and care (and meets with hardly any) to determine what will be too thick or strong for the patient to take, while giving him no more than the bulk which he is able to swallow."

Cassell's dictionary of cookery