The Wilmingtonian., 1886-05-01
ImportRnce Of DietetIcs.

Dir. W. Roberts, consulting physician to
in recent address published in the British
Medical Journal deyotes the entire hour to
the subject of feeding the sick. We publish
portion Of the articles
Perhaps, Of all the many duties which fall
to the province of the medical practitioner,
there is none SO common as the duty of regu-
lating the diet of his patients. Whatever
the disease may be from which the patient is
suffering, and whatever special means may
be indicated for his relief, the regulation of
the diet is sure, sooner or later, to crop up
| as an integral part of the management of the
case. Dietetics, therefore, cover more ground
than any other branch of the healing art
they are also, perhaps, the most ancient
branch. Hppocrats traces back the very
origin of medicine to detetics. For he
says the ant Of n edicine would not have been
invented at first, nor would it have been
made subject of suggestion, if, when men
are indisposed, the same food, and other ar
ticles Of regimen which they eat and drink
when in good health, were proper for them,
and if no others were preferable to these"
| Notwithstanding this universal applicability
and this high antiquity it must l think be
allowed that detetics, except in few spec
I ial cases, are somewhat neglected in these
days The often contradictory advice which
| is rendered to invalids in regard to their diet
| by the several medical men whom they may
consult, betrays the want of guiding prin.
ciple, and of general consensus of opinion
| in the medical profession on the subject of
feeding the sick This is, perhaps, not to
be wondered at when it is considered how
little systematic study is devoted to dietetins
and how fragmentary is the instruction on
this subject which is given to the student OF
medicine. So far as know, there is no sys-
tematic teaching Of dietetics. even on the
most limited scale, accorded to the student
at any of our medical schools. He is left to
pick up his knowledge on this subject, as
best he may, during the earlier years of his
practice !; and he often ends by taking his
own digestive organs as his type, and pre-.
scribes for his patients according to the lilS-
ings and dslkings of his own stomach TIL &
|
proceeding for there is, perhaps, no subject
on which individual experience is 50 falla.
ciuus a guide as dietetics, and none in rega, q
to " hich it is more important to draw oul
inductions from wide basis Of facts
In the matter of especial diet for the sick,
DR.. Roberts suggests what food are the
most important, and of these milk, meat pre-
parations, raw eggs, and the various gruels
Milk administered in the crude form is liza
BILE to coagulate in sllid massts in The ston
ach. Eggs beaten up raw are not as digesti
! Bile, as cooked but on into the duodcnum and
are absorbed by the intestines.
r DIR, Roberts concludes the address as fol
! lows
{ Gentlemen, in bringing my remarks to clos
| should like again to press for a more sys
/ tematic and more comprehensive study o
d dietetics The effects Of diet are profounC
I aud far-reachng, and exceedingly subt e
' Some inkling of this is got from the hstor.
il of gout Yoa all know how slowly and hov
c insidiously the agony diathesis is developed
i under the influence of diet, and how it ma,
b affect the descendants unto the third AM
If fourth generation. The immediate effec
v of diet are often not the most important
l. Behind these are remote sequences of vita
d concern to the family and the nation. AN
IS it is not solely in regard to feeding the sic
$ that scientific knowledge of dietetics
n useful. There are public questions of grea
s. moment, affecting the food-habits of the pee
n pie, the consideration Of which ought not t
N be dominated exclusively by popular opinion
Is In legslating on such questions, it is Of tn
N last Importance to proceed on correct lines
,s fol- it is certain that any policy which ignol
jy es the instincts of mankind and the laws {
id nature is foredoomed to failure. l believ
es that comprehensive study of these que
- tious from the side of history, and of naturi
er history, would throw unexpected light o
as the issues involved, and furnish data {
IL great value for the guidance of the legislatc
es and of the social reformer,