CHAPTER IV.

DIETETICS—FOOD FOR CHILDREN.

But little pure milk can be obtained in cities, and a substitute may sometimes be used; but where good milk can be obtained, it may usually be made the principal food of young persons.

The mother’s milk, if the mothers are healthy, is the best food for infants; and those that nurse should not as a general rule be weaned during the summer months, when diarrhœas most prevail. When the mother has a sufficient quantity of milk, an infant requires and should receive no other food but breast milk until the sixth and perhaps the ninth month, when other food than breast milk must be provided. New-born babies until the age of twenty-one days should be fed with one part of milk to three of water; between the ages of three and six weeks, with one of milk and two of water; from six weeks to three months, two of milk to three of water; at three months, half milk and half water; at six months three of milk and one of water. It should be good new milk, and the water should be warm, or only hot enough to bring the temperature to that of breast milk.

This diet is better than any variety of starch food, but if the best milk that is obtainable does not agree well with the child, a light gruel made from any of the derivatives of starch may be substituted for water in the above admixtures. If a feeding bottle is used, the food should be given at regular intervals, as has been heretofore directed in regard to nursing. As soon as the child’s meal is over, the tube should be removed from its mouth. The bottle and teat should be thoroughly washed after each meal, and the former always kept in a basin of cold water when not in use. A sweet feeding bottle is of great importance, and neglect of scrupulous attention to it is a frequent cause of sickness in a child.

A few more general directions will be given to afford some guide under varying circumstances.

The degree of dilution of the milk may vary with the richness of the milk used.

When the mother gives evidence of feebleness it may be best to wean the child at six months, or even sooner if the mother evidently suffers from lactation. If the mother’s health is robust it may be well to nurse it to the twelfth or thirteenth month, but we should always endeavor to know whether the child thrives best on the mother’s milk. Before the twelfth month she should gradually diminish the allowance of the breast, and increase the supply of suitable food; perhaps suckling the child twice in the twenty-four hours, and otherwise feeding it at proper intervals.

If the child is weaned at seven or eight months or later, it may take for a meal a breakfast-cup full of milk to which is added a teaspoonful of lime water, or a weak solution of soda; and sometimes it may take the yolk of an egg well beaten up in a teacupful of milk, or a dessert spoonful of pearl barley jelly dissolved in a breakfast-cup full of warm milk, and slightly sweetened with white sugar.

FOOD FOR INFANTS OR FOR THE SICK should neither be rewarmed nor kept warm on a stove or in an oven, especially if either sugar or salt has been added to the composition; it is better to prepare no more than is required at once, but if any should remain and be used, let it be brought to a proper warmth by the addition of a little hot water, broth, or gruel, as the case may be.

Food made of bread so as to constitute pap or PANADA has a great tendency to become sour, and a quantity only sufficient for a single meal should be made at a time.

OATMEAL and INDIAN MEAL have a loosening effect upon the bowels, but these as well as wheaten bread, contain more nutritive matter than sago, tapioca, and similar substances which may be regarded as modifications of starch.

For the sick have hot things very hot, and cold things very cold. Food should never be prepared in the presence of the sick, nor so that the smell of cooking be allowed to reach them if it can be avoided.

Never taste of the patient’s food in her presence or with her spoon; give food regularly, but in most cases the patient should not be roused from sleep for food; some light food at night will often serve to send the patient to sleep.

Rice forms an excellent diet for the sick and for convalescents.

COOKING FOR THE SICK AND FOR YOUNG PERSONS.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Cleanliness is eminently essential in cooking for the sick and for infants. The vessel in which milk or gruel is boiled should not be used for anything greasy or seasoned; a sauce pan in which broth has been made, flavored perhaps with onions or parsley, unless very nicely cleaned will impart a disagreeable taste to delicate food. Whatever vessel is used the food should not be allowed to remain in it, but should be poured out as soon as done, and the vessel put to soak in cold water. If it is of tin it should soon be cleansed with wood ashes, but enameled sauce pans or granitized iron ware may be washed clean; when taken down for use wipe with a clean, dry cloth.

For stirring use either a silver or wooden spoon; not one of iron or other metal.

The earthenware dishes, basins or whatever else may be used for keeping food already cooked, or for milk, should be scalded after using, made perfectly dry with a clean cloth, and left to become quite cold before milk broth or whatever it may be, is put into them. For preserving liquids (broth, gruel, or milk), a wide, shallow vessel is better than a thin, narrow one; milk should never be kept in a jug; cooked food should not be shut in with a lid; a hair sieve, or wire cover, or common colander may preserve from cats, mice, slugs, &c.

The cake of fat which collects on the top of broth tends to preserve the liquor while it remains unbroken; but if the skin or fat at top is broken, and if the broth or gruel is designed for use at a subsequent meal, the fat should be removed, and the remainder should be transferred to a clean, dry vessel.

FOOD FOR CONVALESCENTS.

Many questions in regard to diet are left by the physician to the nurse, especially while she has the care of convalescents. I give for her guidance a few more aphorisms and directions:

1. While it is true that as a general rule people who like salt, vinegar, &c., ought to be allowed to gratify their taste, and that the cravings of a sick person are not always to be denied, yet appetite and taste were intended to govern the choice and quantity of food in health; and even then, they should be guided by reason and experience. Such articles as fruit, jam, cake, cheese, butter, and milk may generally be taken if there is a craving for them, but if they are not digested, the stomach must be consulted, and not the cravings. Milk and eggs are important articles of food, but they must not be forced upon the patient; cheese is sometimes craved; it is concentrated nutriment, but in some person’s stomachs it is digestible, and it may perhaps favor digestion of other food; do not entirely disregard the desires and taste of the patient; as a rule if meat is craved it is allowable, and it is better to chew and swallow it, than it is to chew it and spit out its nutritive contents.

2. During convalescence, as soon as ANIMAL FOOD can be taken with impunity, that which is most digestible should be selected. With the exception of poultry the flesh of middle aged animals affords the most digestible food. Keeping animal food for a certain time before it is cooked lessens the density of the fibre and renders it more tender, but the utmost caution is requisite to prevent the change from advancing so far as to present the slightest trace of taint in the food.

3. GELLATINE in the form of BOUILLON or concentrated broths is valuable in fevers, &c., as an addition to other diet, as it prevents or rather retards the process of denutrition.

4. SOUR MILK is to some sick persons and convalescents an agreeable beverage, and in cases of atonic dyspepsia and many other cases, it is a good adjuvant in the treatment of slow digestion, where flatulence and a sensation of cramp in the stomach are prominent symptoms. The good effects of drinking a tumbler full or half a tumbler full of ordinary cold sour milk or BUTTERMILK, is probably owing in a measure, to the lactic acid which it contains. It may be taken regularly half an hour after each meal, in cases of weak stomach.

5. MILK is digestible when it is drunk immediately after it is drawn from the udder of the cow or that of the goat, but it is often necessary in convalescence to dilute it in water. It may be kept for some time from souring in warm weather by adding to each quart fifteen grains of bicarbonate of soda. When there is evidence of over-acidity of the stomach, lime water may be added in any proportion up to one-half.

6. RAW EGG somewhat in the form of an emulsion, has been useful in certain diseases. Four raw eggs may be beaten up in a pint of cold water, a little flavoring and sugar added, and the patient may take it by sips during the day. This is a light and nutritive diet, but eggs are much less digestible in this form than when they are lightly boiled.

7. RAW OYSTERS are somewhat nutritive, but are not easy of digestion. LOBSTERS, CRABS, PRAWNS, CRAYFISH, SCALLOPS, and other shell fish are more objectionable than oysters. FISH, especially of the white kind, is not stimulating; if it is simply boiled it is admissable for convalescents, and for those laboring under some acute diseases. In the decline of fevers some animal food may be given; first beef tea, chicken broth, and mutton broth, and other liquid animal decoctions; then white fish and a more generous diet.

8. The value of soups depends upon the freshness of the meat, the manner in which they are boiled, and the delicacy with which they are seasoned; for the latter any of the vegetable condiments may be used according to the taste of the consumer.

9. The nurse should know that certain articles in a certain form cannot be digested in the stomach, because they cannot be dissolved in the fluid contained there. Rich pastry, pieces of hard potato, rich puddings and dumplings, hard stringy meat, and greasy fibred meat, new bread, and rolls that are not well baked are, in general, indigestible. Pie is not essentially indigestible; indeed indigestibility cannot be affirmed of any article of food, apart from a consideration of the digestive capacity of the particular stomach, the powers of which are to be tested.

10. Some mild ESCULENT ROOTS are fitted for the use of the sick if they are boiled in two waters, but they are not well adapted to those who are liable to sour stomachs. Some vegetables, on account of their peculiar qualities, have peculiar effects as remedies. It is asserted that spinach and asparagus act as diuretics, dandelion as a tonic and laxative, tomatoes as a cholagogue, beets and turnips as a tonic, onions, garlic, and leeks as stimulants and narcotics, the red onion as a narcotic in neuralgia and insomnia, and cabbages, tomatoes, and other salad material as anti-scorbutics.

11. FRUITS produce the most diversified effects; but peaches and nectarines, very soluble pears if they are ripe, apples if they are roasted, the orange if it is fully ripe, grapes if the skin be rejected, strawberries and mulberries are pretty generally admissible.

FLUID ALIMENTS.

12. Fluid food can in most cases be taken more conveniently by suction through a BENT GLASS TUBE. After feeding, dry the mouth if the patient cannot well do it for herself.

13. Water is demanded in every disease in which a dry skin and an elevation of temperature is present. The temperature of the water may be from 60° to 50°. Small bits of ice swallowed whole are excellent to control nausea. It is refreshing and harmless.

To keep a small piece of ice from immediately melting: Cut a piece of flannel six inches square, snip one or two holes in the centre for water to run through; confine it by an elastic band about the edge of a tumbler or goblet; depress the middle of the flannel, and a small piece of ice may be kept in it for some time; bits of ice may be split off from it with a knife. Ice and water should be pure.

14. Toast water when properly prepared forms a useful beverage in the sick room. As it contains a small proportion of gluten it is slightly nutritive.

15. While febrile symptoms are present, farinaceous matters such as barley water gruel, arrow root, mucilage or sago acidulated with lemon juice, and sweetened to the taste of the patient, are most commonly suitable, but water is the most salutary diluent.

16. Gruel is less mild and demulcent than barley water, and is more likely to sour, but it is nutritive food.

17. Tea is refreshing, and may be taken in moderate quantity, provided it be not strong. Coffee may be taken largely combined with milk.

18. Beer, brandy, and other stimulants should be given only after proper medical examination and advice.

RECIPES FOR BEVERAGES AND FOOD.

FORMULA 1. FOOD FOR INFANTS.

Take of new milk, warm water, of each equal parts; table salt, sugar, of each a small quantity, to salt and sweeten it slightly; warm the milk by the water, so that it will be of the same temperature as the mother’s milk—about 90°; the proportion of milk may be a little less than this when the infant is newly born, and should be increased as it grows older, but water must always be given with the milk. Give by means of a feeding bottle that has been properly cleansed.

2. GUM ARABIC MUCILAGE.

Take of gum Arabic one ounce, boiling water one pint; after the gum Arabic is dissolved, add two table spoonfuls of sugar and the juice of a lemon; cool and add ice. This may be taken as a drink in diarrhœa.

3. INFUSION OF FLAX SEED.

Take of flax seed two table spoonfuls, water one pint, sugar two table spoonfuls; steep for an hour or more and strain, then add the juice of a lemon and set on ice. Use as a demulcent drink.

4. MILK AND CINNAMON DRINK.

Take of cinnamon one teaspoonful, boiling water one pint; steep for a few minutes, sweeten with sugar, and mix with half a pint of milk. Good in diarrhœa.

5. VINEGAR WHEY.

Take of milk one pint, vinegar one ounce; boil for a few minutes and separate the curd. Good in dysentery, and may be taken freely.

6. DECOCTION OF BRAN.

Take of wheat bran one pint, boiling water three pints; let the mixture stand in a covered vessel for two hours; strain and serve, with sugar and cream. This is slightly laxative.

7. SAGE TEA.

Take of the dried leaves of sage half an ounce, boiling water one quart; infuse for half an hour and then strain. Sugar and lemon juice may be added in the proportion required by the patient. In the same manner balm and other teas may be made.

8. A REFRESHING DRINK IN FEVERS.

Boil one ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of cranberries, and two ounces of stoned raisins, in three pints of water till the water is reduced to two pints; strain and add a bit of lemon peel, which should be removed in an hour as it gives a bitter taste if left long.

9. TOAST WATER.

Take slices of toast nicely browned, enough hot water to cover them, cover closely and let them stand until cold; strain the water, sweeten to taste, and put a piece of ice in each glassful. If the physician thinks it safe add a little lemon juice. Good for nausea and vomiting.

10. APPLE WATER.

Take three juicy pippins or other fine flavored apples, one quart cold water; pare and quarter the apples, but do not core them; stew the apples to pieces in a tin or porcelain sauce-pan, closely covered; strain the liquor at once, closely pressing the apples in the cloth; sweeten and ice for drinking. Slightly laxative.

11. SLIPPERY ELM BARK TEA.

Break the bark into bits, pour boiling water over it, cover and let it infuse till it is cold.

12. JELLY WATER.

Take one large teaspoonful currant or other kind of jelly, one goblet ice water; beat up well. A good drink in fever, and if of wild cherry or blackberry jelly it is very good for those suffering from diarrhœa.

13. CORN TEA.

Take a cupful of dry corn, parch it brown, grind it, or pound it in a mortar; pour over it two cups of boiling water, and steep for a few minutes. This is nutritious.

14. TARTAR WHEY.

Take of milk one quart, cream of tartar half an ounce; boil until the curd separates. This is somewhat laxative.

15. HERB TEAS.

Take of the dried or green leaves about one ounce, boiling water one pint, and let them stand until cold. Catnip tea is good for colds and coughs in infants; spearmint and peppermint tea is good for disordered stomach and bowels; pennyroyal for a cold if recently taken; chamomile tea is a good tonic, blackberry root tea is good for summer complaint, raspberry leaves (green) for dysentery, sweet apple tree bark tea for a child’s cankered sore mouth, pumpkin seed and parsley tea for suppression of urine; mullien leaf tea is good in kidney complaints; mullien leaves infused in milk makes a medicinal drink in a case of phthisis.

16. MILK AND ISINGLASS (GELATIN.)

Dissolve a little gelatin in water and mix with half a pint of milk. Boil and sweeten to taste.

17. EFFERVESCING LEMONADE.

Take the juice of a large lemon, two or three teaspoonfuls of sugar, half a pint of spring water; add half a small teaspoonful of carbonate of soda. Stir and drink while effervescing.

18. INDIAN MEAL GRUEL.

Take of Indian meal one small teacupful, wheat flour one table spoonful, boiling water two quarts; wet the meal and flour to a smooth paste, and stir into the water while it is boiling. Boil slowly for thirty or forty minutes, frequently stirring from the bottom; salt to taste; add sugar and nutmeg if you like; if too thick reduce with boiling water to the desired consistency; if a laxative effect is desired omit the flour. Raisins may be boiled with the gruel, and cream may be added if desired.

19. OATMEAL GRUEL

is made in the same way as the above. Gruel drank warm at bed time is a soothing remedy for a bad cold.

20. MILK AND RICE GRUEL.

Take boiling milk one quart, ground rice two table spoonfuls wet with cold milk, salt one salt spoonful; stir in the rice paste and boil ten minutes, stirring constantly. Season with sugar and nutmeg, and eat warm with cream.

21. TAPIOCA JELLY.

Take of tapioca two spoonfuls, water one pint; boil gently for an hour, or until it assumes a jelly-like appearance. Add sugar and nutmeg with lemon juice to suit the taste of the patient.

22. RICE GRUEL.

Take of ground rice one ounce, cinnamon one drachm, water one quart; boil for thirty minutes, adding the cinnamon near the conclusion. Strain and sweeten it.

23. PANADA.

Take of wheat bread one ounce, cinnamon one drachm (or if preferred a little mace), water one pint; boil without stirring until they mix and turn smooth. Then add a grate of nutmeg, a small piece of butter, and sugar according to taste. Some add a table spoonful of wine.

24. BREAD JELLY.

Steep stale bread in boiling water, and pass through a fine sieve while still hot. This is a light, nourishing diet for a weak stomach, which may be taken alone, or after being boiled with milk.

25. RICE CREAM.

Steep a quarter of a pound of whole rice in milk, and put in a sieve to drain and cool; mix the rice with a gill of cream whisked to a froth, and a little powdered sugar, and a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Some add wine but it is not necessary.

26. TO MAKE FAT.

The diet to be prescribed when the aim is to produce increased weight should include such articles as fat meats, butter, cream, milk, cocoa, chocolate, bread, potatoes, peas, parsnips, beets, farinaceous and flour puddings, pastry, almond puddings, and biscuit, custards, oatmeal porridge, sugar and sweets, porter, &c.

27. MILK PORRIDGE.

Take wheat flour two table spoonfuls, milk one pint, water one pint; mix the flour with cold water to form a thin paste; put the milk and water over the fire, and when they come to a boiling point add the paste, carefully stirring.

28. FRENCH MILK PORRIDGE.

Stir some oatmeal and water together, let the mixture stand to clear, and pour off the water; then put more water to the meal, stir it well and let it stand till the next day; strain through a fine sieve and boil the water, adding milk while so doing. Let the proportion of milk exceed one-half. With toast this is good diet for the sick.

29. LIME WATER AND MILK.

Take of lime water one to two ounces, milk four ounces. This will sometimes be retained on the stomach when other food is rejected. The addition of fifteen grains of bicarbonate of soda has a similar effect if added to a quart of fresh milk, and prevents milk from turning sour for several hours.

30. MUSH AND MILK.

Take of Indian meal one coffee cupful, water two quarts, salt to taste; when the water is boiling, stir the meal into it, adding meal gradually till it thickens so that it is difficult to stir. It should be permitted to remain where it will cook slowly for twenty or thirty minutes, stirred often with a pudding stick. Eat with milk.

31. LEMON JELLY.

Soak half a box of gelatin in a cup of cold water; steep the grated or pared rind of two lemons in a pint of boiling water for ten minutes, add the gelatin, one cup of sugar, and four table spoonfuls of lemon juice. When all is dissolved, strain and place in a vessel to cool.

32. ALUM WHEY.

Take alum one teaspoonful, milk one pint; boil together and strain to separate the curd.

33. TABLE TEA.

Allow a small teaspoonful of tea to each half pint of water. After rinsing the teapot with boiling water put in the tea, and let it stand a few minutes in the steaming pot; add the water freshly boiling, and let it stand where it will keep hot three or four minutes.

34. NUTRITIOUS COFFEE.

Take one pint of nearly boiling milk, and add half an ounce of freshly ground coffee, and boil together for three minutes. Clear it by pouring into a cup and dashing back. Add a little isinglass dissolved in water and leave to settle. If preferred, beat up an egg with sugar and pour the coffee upon it.

35. NUTRITIOUS LAXATIVE.

Take one table spoonful of lump magnesia, pulverized, one teaspoonful of saleratus or soda, sugar and salt as desired, and stir them in a quart of hot milk porridge made in the usual way. This will operate as an antacid and as physic if taken during the day; at the same time it is nourishing.

36. POTUS IMPERIALIS.

Take half an ounce of cream tartar, the juice of one lemon, and two table spoonfuls of sugar; pour on them a quart of boiling water, and let it stand on ice till cold. If this is drank it will increase the action of the kidneys.

37. VEGETABLE SOUP.

Take one potato, one turnip, one onion; let them be sliced and boiled in one quart of water for an hour. Add as much salt and pepper as is agreeable, and pour the whole upon dry toast. Add butter if desired.

38. SWEET PTISAN, FOR A DRINK IN DYSENTERY.

Take of sheep’s suet two ounces, milk one pint, starch half an ounce, water one pint; boil slowly for fifteen minutes.

39. MUCILAGE OF STARCH.

Take of starch one ounce, powdered cinnamon one drachm, gum Arabic one ounce, boiling water three pints; boil until reduced to two-thirds and strain. This is a useful drink in dysentery.

40. BOILED FLOUR.

Take of fine wheat flour a pound, tie it up in a linen cloth, boil until it becomes a hard dry mass. A table spoonful of this may be grated off and used to make milk porridge.

41. TOAST.

The bread must be cut thin, the crust trimmed off, and then the slice held in a toaster over a bed of coals, and turned from side to side till all the moisture is removed, then allowed to become a golden brown. Serve it on a hot plate as soon as it is done.

42. VERY NICE PANADA.

Take three Boston crackers, split them and arrange them in a bowl in layers, sugar and salt scattered among them; cover with boiling water, and set in a warm place with a close cover over the bowl, to remain one hour. A little nutmeg should be added, and it should be eaten from the bowl.

43. HOW TO PREPARE ARROW ROOT.

Put two teaspoonfuls of the powder into a basin, mix them smooth with a few teaspoonfuls of cold water, and let another person pour boiling water over the mixture while you continue to stir it until it forms a starchy looking substance. It may be used in the same manner as gruel, a little milk and salt being added to it.

44. ARROW ROOT CUSTARD.

Take two teaspoonfuls arrow root, wet them up with a little cold milk; stir for three minutes in a cup of boiling milk, take from the fire and stir in an egg, already well beaten; boil two minutes longer, flavor with vanilla or rose water, and pour into moulds.

45. BOILED RICE AND COCOA-NUT.

Take one teacupful of rice, one heaping teaspoonful of cocoa-nut, and the milk from the centre of the nut; one quart of water, one pint of milk, and salt to taste; boil three or four hours in a double boiler. If it boils away too much add more water. Serve with canned strawberries for sauce.

46. BREAD JELLY FOR CHILDREN WEANED.

Take a quantity of the soft part of a loaf, break it up, cover it with boiling water and allow it to soak for several hours; the water is then to be poured off completely, and fresh water added; place the mixture on the fire and allow it to boil until it becomes smooth. The water is then to be pressed out, and the bread on cooling will form a thick jelly. Mix a portion of this with sugared milk and water as it is wanted.

47. HOW TO COOK RICE.

Erratum. On page 268, bottom line, for 47 read 40.

In preparing it only just enough cold water should be poured on to prevent from burning at the bottom of the pot, which should have a close fitting cover, and with a moderate fire the rice is steamed rather than boiled until it is nearly done; then the cover is taken off, the surplus steam and moisture allowed to escape, and the rice turns out a mass of snow white kernels.

48. OYSTER BROTH.

Take half a pint of oysters, cut into small pieces, put them into a gill of water and let them simmer for eight or ten minutes. Skim and strain, then add a little new milk, salt, and pepper.

49. POACHED EGG.

A fresh egg broken into boiling water and cooked till the white is congealed, then laid on a piece of newly toasted bread dipped in hot milk and buttered, is an appetizing dish for convalescents.

50. CHICKEN TEA.

To relieve the nausea and vomiting of cholera morbus: Kill a chicken, and strip off the feathers as soon as possible after it is killed; boil the wings and legs in a little water. This, if simply seasoned with a little salt, will be acceptable to the stomach.

51. RESTORATION SOUP FOR INVALIDS.

Take one pound of newly killed beef or fowl, chop it fine; add one-half pint of pure water, and perhaps four or five drops of pure muriatic acid, one-half teaspoonful of common salt, and stir well together. After three hours the whole may be thrown in a sieve, and the fluid allowed to pass through on slight pressure; on the flesh residue in the sieve pour slowly one-half teacupful of water, and let it run slowly through the sieve while squeezing the meat. There will thus be obtained about ten ounces of cold juice (extract of meat), having a pleasant taste of soup, of which a wineglassful may be taken at pleasure. If preferred one part of meat may be taken with two parts of white sugar, one teaspoonful every three hours. The two may be pounded in a mortar.

52. BEEF TEA.

Take one pound of beef minced very fine, and put it in a common earthenware pot with a pint and a half of cold water; stand the pot on the stove, so that it may simmer for at least three hours.

53. CHICKEN BROTH.

When it is desired that chicken broth should be very nutritious, take an old fowl; cut up and break the bones with a mallet; cover with three or four pints of cold water, and add some rice or tapioca; salt to taste and boil for two hours.

54. MUTTON AND VEAL BROTH.

Take of either mutton, beef, or veal one pound and a half, cold water two quarts, rice two ounces; simmer for four hours, boil for a few minutes, strain and serve.

55. EGGS, CREAM, AND EXTRACT OF BEEF.

Wash two ounces of the best pearl sago until the water poured from it is clear, then stir the sago in half a pint of water until it is tender and very thick; mix with it half a pint of good boiling cream, and the yolks of four fresh eggs, and mingle the whole carefully with one quart of good beef tea, which should be boiling; serve. Good in cases of lingering convalescence after acute diseases.

56. BEEF TEA MADE NUTRITIOUS.

To a pint of beef tea add bread crumbs, and boil for five minutes; or mix a table spoonful of cooked oatmeal or rice with two of boiling water, add a cupful of strong beef tea and boil a few moments. Serve with toast.

57. MUTTON BROTH.

To a pound of meat cut in small pieces put a quart of cold water, boil slowly three or four hours in a closely covered kettle till the meat falls to pieces; strain, remove all fat, and put in two table spoonfuls of rice that has been soaked half an hour; simmer until the rice is well cooked, season with salt, and serve with toasted cracker.

58. BEEF TEA.

Take lean beef, cut into shreds one pound, cold water one quart; boil for thirty minutes, taking off the scum as it rises; when it grows cold, strain.

59. ESSENCE OF BEEF.

Take of lean beef sliced, one pound; put into a bottle or fruit jar, cork it loosely and place it in a pot of cold water (attaching the neck by means of a string to the handle of the vessel.) Boil for two hours and then decant the liquor and skim it.

60. BEEF JUICE.

Take a nice juicy steak, remove all the fat, broil it over a bright coal fire long enough to heat it through; then with a meat or lemon squeezer press out the juice into a cup; set in hot water. Remove any fat that may be in it; shake the salt box slightly over it and serve.

I shall not refer to the different alimentary preparations now thrown in the market, which come with printed directions on the packages, farther than to say that I have a favorable opinion of Carnrick’s Soluble food for infants. I have tested it well.