Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-04
stimulants for the Sick Room.
VARIOUS METHODS OF GIVING BRANDY ANB WINE
To INvALIDS-HINTs FOR NURSES.


The use Of wine and spirits for invalids and
the method OF administering them require some
particularinotice. Oflthe great advantage to be
derived from these stimulants when given in
proper quantity and at the right time there
can be no doubt. Preparations of solid food
containing an alcoholic admixture are some
what difficult, because, as a certain amount Of
cooking or heating must be employed, high
temperatures volatilize the spirits. Some flavor
OF the wine may be left, but the active princl-
pies are evaporated. 1t is in fluids or semi
fluids that the best and simplest vehicles for
the administration OF stlmulants are found. II
1t be necessary to cook any food which is to con-
tain wine, the wine should be added last. In
the choice of spurious substances brandy stands
first; after that comes sherry. OF late years
milk punch, made with brandy, has been used
with marked success by all physicians. AS was
an invalid the mistake is to present 1t in too
great quantity. Possibly, of all the methods of
administering stimulant in small bulk, milk
punch is the BEST 1t need not be given cold or
Iced, for food given at too low temperatures In
feeble conditions Of health shock the system,
and is not readily assimilated. The milk can
be Sweetened, then warmed, and the brandy
added just before taking. Wlne-whey is an
other preparation of milk which is used. From
receipt In use in leading hospital, the fol-
| lowing is given as the method of preparations
quart OF milk is boiled, into which Just enough
sherry Is added until the milk curdles, then the
| whole is removed from the fire, aud, when co,!-
| Ing, half wine glass more of sherry is added.
| No sugar is used. In all such preparations the
use OF spices, such as cinnamon or nutmeg.
| She uld be employed with the utmost caution.
lot so much as TO their effects on the system as
| because the taste Of a sick person is often ex-
ceedingly keen, and the least excess of any con-
| diment becomes disagreeable. In all such
preparations IL must be remembered that the
| effort is to be inside to tempt the appetite to
| start once more the digestive functions which
| nave become dormant Jei1es have been per-
haps more used for inval1dS, with less aclualnt-
| ance with their merits, than any other SuoStan-
| ces. Preparations OF geatine admirable in
! quality abound, but as TO the nutrition they
contain they must be declared to be NULL but 1t
is not always their nutritive quality alone
Which makes them useful. GelaJine, which is
| really nothing else than very carefully pre-
pared glue, is not convertible in the human
system into blood fat, flesh or bone. II an ami
| NAL were fed entirely on pure gelatine hewould
die OF starvation. Where its great use is found
is as a vehicle where In most diluted form
food can be administered. For invalids, If jelly
is used, it should be made Of calves feet; in
such preparation the juices Of the meat enter
largely into the composition Of the substance,
very bulk of such food which makes the physi-
clan order sttmulants to be given In jel-
lies, even when made OF pure ,gelatine a
sometimes start the human machine Blanc
manges made OF gelatine with mix
are, therefore, admirable Of their kind. We do
of jellies made Of Iceland moss, which is So
constantly ordered by foreign physicians.
Though the nourishing quality of the moss, per
Sc. is very slight, such salts of iodine and bro
maine as 1t possesses are Of positive value. The
preparation Of Iceland moss jelly is of the ut
most simplicity: An ounce of the moss may be
stepped In tepid water over night, carefully
washed and cleaned from grit, then mixed with
water boiled down to pint, strained, sweet
ened and have sherry Wine added to ii last or
it may have milk put into it. Its peculiar slight
| sea flavor has often awakened lethargic ap-
petite. 1t is curious to notice in sensible cook
| books such receipts given as for hartshorn
| jelly and ivory jelly, which have no possible
| use, and are remnants of an empirical school,
which BELONGED To the 15ft1. homes
| horns, or hoofs would answer quite the
same purpose; such stupidities are to be
| claSSed among old WomenS receipts. In
England port wine is very largely used as
stimulant, but it is difficult to procure in the
| United states. Its particular advantages are
not salient; owing its tonic qualities to an adj
mixture with foreign substance, harmless of
course, such heavy red California wines as are
| now made can be substituted for port wine. 1t
to procure the very best brandy or wine for the
| sick-room, for between the best and the next
| best the health Of the patient may depend
| French wines the red ones) in convalescence
| can be highly recommended, but their merits in
| very low stages of health are very much doubt
| ed. AS to white wines, whether French or Ger
man, they should be discarded.-[N. Y. Times.
Deer Hunting in the AdirOndacExs.
At the hunters are off. Three or four dogs
are started on as many trails by the hunters,
woods for that purpose. Generally, however.
it takes only few minutes to find track, and
the dog starts, baying as he goes at irregular
intervals on the trail made, perhaps, the night
before. He wanderS about uncertainty for a
time, as the deer has fed, and then goes off
straight and quickly out OF hearing behind
some Woode ea hil tn, the hunter knows thee
dog has not reused him as yet, but tna5 he l.
probably lying at rest after his nights
seas of his the s he sess ms fr IN
sounds. The air is full of murmur5; now he
thinks he hears the dog, but it is only some
great fly buzzing rods away. An hour IS gone;
the ear Is tired of its straining, and he sean :
the bay. 1t may be the deer has come to water;
it often does before the dog is heard. He looks
along the border of the lake, where the leaning
cedarS make dark zone; many an Impractical
eve has lost the game in that deep shadow.
He sees some floating object far down the
lake, at which he strains his eyes; it is
loon that laughs at him and dives
and floats away: The lily pads rise from the
water with the breeze, and cheat him into
another long debate between the sense and rea-
son. Another hour Is gone, and eye as well as
ear is tired. Blueberries or raspberries are thick
about him, and he picks them and gives an &C.
casional glance about the lake: A crash comes
across the lake from the hill to startle the
strained senses. 1t is some great tree falling in
the woods that jars the earth, shocks the air
and makes the pebbles lap the water on the
baying Of the hound is heard, far off but quite
distinct. Echo makes plaything of the sound,
throwing it from hill to hill, giving it to you
first from one point, then from another cheat
w
hours In listening to that sound, and then IL
lies down again, and your guide concludes the
deer has gone to water in some distant lake
And then you push off your boat for start
homeward, when all at once on the hillside
close to the place where the dog first took the
trail. he breaks out again, loud and urgent,
barking, yelping, bowling in one continuous
stream OF noise. He has the deer ahead of him
this time sure enough. Now everything is ex-
element; there is no fatigue in eyes or ears
Round the hill they go, deer and dog, up the
lake shore towards the head. 'Will he 60 in
theIe?" we asked. NO." replied the guide;
1--WE never watch that place." Back they
come, right towards our watching place
''Will he come in?" we ask. 'Not yet" is the
reply. The chase turns and goes rapidly up a
brook bed towards High pond; another turn and
back they come, this time through a swamp.
We can feel the perplexity of the dog as the
marshy soil defeats his scent and breaks his
baytng into tnfrequent and impatient bowls
The swamp Is passed, and as the chase leads off
in straight line parallel with the shore, our
guide fairly shouts, ''That deer is ours. There
he goes straight for Great Forked and right
into BIS hands, We wait minutes that seem
hours. "Why doesn't he shoot? The deer is In
the bay long before this" BIS rifle cracks two
miles away, and the hunt Is up. Five hours Of
/ steady watching give us deer. 1t is the story
OF representative hunt, which might have
been varied In score of ways and ended In
defeat at last.-[Cor. Springfield Republican.