The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-01-09
IDIOSYNCRAsIE OF EATING.
The Stomach the Best Judge of It's Re.
quirements Sometimes.

Inc SIOmhch the Best Judge of Its Re-
quirements Sometimes.
Rose Terry Cook writes: There are
temporary idiosyncratic desires for
food, particularly in sickness, that are
very apt to be instructive indications
OF usefulness or need. A physician |
once knew, whose early death was a
real loss to the profession, so wonder
ful was his skill 10 diagnosis ana in the
use OF remedial agents, said to me
once that If a patient strongly craved
anything to eat or drink, however odd
or unwholesome the thing desired
seemed to be, he always allowed them
to try 1t, for he invariably found that
the article IN question either became
useful to the patient, or just a mouth
ful or sip would at once satisfy the
desire.
He told of several instances in his
own practice that justified his theory
While he was employed in B Hospital,
after completing his course of study
at medical college, a severe epidemic
OF summer diarThna set in and the
chlldren's wall was crowded with
patients. The disease was unusually
obstinate and malignant, and at last
attacked an infant of the matron's
The child was very i'll, and the mother
wa; obliged to take it with her in her
arms when she went about he1.
duties, as those could not beneglected,
| ana there was not a nurseto be spared
One day when she sat down to dinner
with her child in her lap, there was a
slice of boiled ham put on her plate.
Tie ham had not been skinned after
boiling, and the baby reached out and
grasped piece of rind that was near
her and began to suck it with great
eagerness. The mother was alarmed
and tried to take it sway, sure that
it would be injurious under the cir
cumstances, but the child cried so hard
and grasped the Grind sotightly that at
last she gave up the contest.
The next morning the doctor said:
"Mrs. -, how is your baby to-day ?"
fully expecting to hear an upfavorable
report, as several infants had died
during the night.
She's great deal BETTER" said the
mother, cheerfully. "But | surely
thought I'd killed her yesterday, doc
tor. let her get hold of bit of ham
rind when | wasn't looking at her and
she got it in her mouth, and cried so
hard when | tried to take it away
thought she'd have a spasm, so let
her suck it; but to day she's ever so
much better; her diarrhna stopped
last night, and she slept well and ate
we'll this morning"
The prompt and perceptive doctor
went directly to the kitchen, discov-
cred the remains of the ham, cut slips
of the rind off, carried them up to the
infant ward, and distributed them
among the babies, who without ex-
ception grasped them with avIdity;
and every one on whom this expert
ment was tried rapidly recovered.
Another patient was an Irishman,
apparently at the point OF death with
| liberation of the bowels. Doctors and
nurses had all given him up. He was
unable to speak above whisper, and
my kind-hearted friend, pitiful of his
| helpless condition, stopped over him
and said:
''Patrick, is there anythingyo want
that / can get you?"
In whisper so weak and hoarse as
to be inaudIble unless the doctor put
his ear down close to the trembling
| lips, the dying man answered:
Cabbage"
The doctor could not believe his
ears.
"Did you say cabbage?" he asked
/ incredulously.
"Oi did" was tie faint whisper.
Cooked or raw" asked the as
| tonished doctor
Raw" murmured Patrick.
The doctor stood aghast; however,
he reflected that Pat was dying and
that nothing could kill or cure him
now; it seemed kindly thing to fulfill
| his last wishes, so he went out into
the garden, and, cutting a large, fresh
cabbage, divided it into quarters and
laid one of the sections close to Pat
rick's lips, guiding his helpless hand in
to place that propped the cabbage
up against his mouth, and then DR.. c..
sat down to watch this extraordinary
| patient.
Slowly the cabbage disappeared; the
| Irishman's eyes frightened during the
/ process, and shade more of life per-
vaded his cOuntenance. AS the last
| fragment was swallowed he said
''Morep in quite an audible tone, but
| the doctor made him wait few mo-
ments before the second quarter was
laid in position and eagerly received.
To curtail my story, in the course Of
| the day Patrick ate all the good part
| OF q large cabbage, began to get well
! from that time, and in a week or two
| left the hospital and went to work.
| | had this story from Dr. G himself, or
| | dare not record it. In another in
stance the same physician was attend
ing a severe case of kidney disease; the
| patient had great craving for cider,
and remembering his experience in the
! hospital the doctor sent for pitcher
| full and ordered the nurse to give it to
| the sick man in small quantities and
| observe carefully how it acted on him,
| and to refuse 1t to him if it seemed in
| furious. The nursefollowed direct. ons,
| but the patient, like Oliver Twist,
kept asking for more; the nurse dared
not indulge him beyond thedoctor's di-
rections, but being overcome with
sleep during the night, omitted one
dose, and the patient, creeping out of
bed very quietly, reached the pitcher
and emptied it at one draught. The
poornurse reproached himself bitterly
| for his lapse Of watch, but the cider
cured the patient, and both doctor
! and nurse were shortly dispensed with.
! Railroads Should Plant Trees.
From Outingl
| What objection can there be to COM
peIling either by state or national leg
| islatiOn, every railroad company IN
the Union to plant trees forty feet
Il J