^ Remember also that research has proved many things to be less nourishing than you may have been brought up to believe. Beef- tea is an essential in sickness, but it is not nourishment. It is a powerful stimulant, and has what is called "a reparative quality," which makes it of greatest value. Gelatine was once believed to be condensed nourishment, but careful experiment showed it to be of i66 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. no value at all. Eggs are desirable, but people of nervous or bilious temperament are often unable to take them, except whipped up in wine. A smoothly baked custard is considered very digestible. On the contrary the baking of eggs in either custard or pudding has ren- dered them almost hopelessly indigestible. Arrow-root, especially among English nurses, is a great dependence, but it is really only starch and water, flour being far better, as well as less likely to fer- ment. Oatmeal, crushed wheat, and corn-meal are all preferable to sago, tapioca, or arrow-root, corn-meal being especially good for weak and chilly invalids because of its heating qualities. Milk, too, is one of the best of foods, and cream as efficient a healer of delicate lungs as cod-liver oil. The least change in milk renders it unwhole- some, and the utmost care must be used in keeping it. Buttermilk is very useful in fevers, and often where used plentifully is not only food, but a cooling medicine. ■ Do not disregard what may seem senseless craving on the part of the patient for some article of food which even the well are supposed to find it hard to digest. A patient with dysentery or chronic diar- rhoea has often been known to beg for fat ham or bacon, suet pud- ding, cheese, fruit, or pickles, and preposterous as it sounds, these articles represented two classes of food demanded by the Avasted tissues — fat and vegetable acids. Pavy gives a rule for preparing suet for such cases, and an intelligent nurse or physician will always consider such requests carefully before either denying or granting them. There is great difference in the amounts which different patients can digest, and this is apt to be the source of one error in feeding the sick. A case of typhoid, for instance, may be ordered four ounces of brandy a day, and the nurse proceeds to dilute it till there are four pints to be swallowed. Tea, beef-tea, gruel, and other foods are treated in the same way, with the idea that the nourishment is just so much increased. Nothing could well be more mistaken. It may be necessary to reduce the strength of brandy for easier swallowing, IN THE sick-room; OR, SANITARY NURSING. 167 but in cases where taking food is nearly impossible, this should be but very slightly. There are cases where nutritive enema must be given, and the form recommended by Pavy is chosen here.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

^ Remember also that research has proved many things to be less nourishing than you may have been brought up to believe. Beeftea is an essential in sickness, but it is not nourishment. It is a powerful stimulant, and has what is called "a reparative quality," which makes it of greatest value. Gelatine was once believed to be condensed nourishment, but careful experiment showed it to be of 166 THE HEARTHSTONE; OR, LIFE AT HOME. no value at all. Eggs are desirable, but people of nervous or bilious temperament are often unable to take them, except whipped up in wine. A smoothly baked custard is considered very digestible. On the contrary the baking of eggs in either custard or pudding has rendered them almost hopelessly indigestible. Arrow-root, especially among English nurses, is a great dependence, but it is really only starch and water, flour being far better, as well as less likely to ferment. Oatmeal, crushed wheat, and corn-meal are all preferable to sago, tapioca, or arrow-root, corn-meal being especially good for weak and chilly invalids because of its heating qualities. Milk, too, is one of the best of foods, and cream as efficient a healer of delicate lungs as cod-liver oil. The least change in milk renders it unwholesome, and the utmost care must be used in keeping it. Buttermilk is very useful in fevers, and often where used plentifully is not only food, but a cooling medicine. ■ Do not disregard what may seem senseless craving on the part of the patient for some article of food which even the well are supposed to find it hard to digest. A patient with dysentery or chronic diarrhoea has often been known to beg for fat ham or bacon, suet pudding, cheese, fruit, or pickles, and preposterous as it sounds, these articles represented two classes of food demanded by the Avasted tissues — fat and vegetable acids. Pavy gives a rule for preparing suet for such cases, and an intelligent nurse or physician will always consider such requests carefully before either denying or granting them. There is great difference in the amounts which different patients can digest, and this is apt to be the source of one error in feeding the sick. A case of typhoid, for instance, may be ordered four ounces of brandy a day, and the nurse proceeds to dilute it till there are four pints to be swallowed. Tea, beef-tea, gruel, and other foods are treated in the same way, with the idea that the nourishment is just so much increased. Nothing could well be more mistaken. It may be necessary to reduce the strength of brandy for easier swallowing, but in cases where taking food is nearly impossible, this should be but very slightly. There are cases where nutritive enema must be given, and the form recommended by Pavy is chosen here.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home