The Indianapolis journal., 1903-03-22
Special Diet Cookery.
Philadelphia Ledger.

Philadelphia Ledger.
There was a knock at the door of the
reception room of a physician who rents his
offices in fashionable house, desirably sit
uated, and an invitation to "come in" 1t
was out of Office hours, but a reporter was
waiting for a talk with the doctor. A we'll
dressed, cheerful woman came in, followed
by boy with a covered basket filled with
patent stoppered bottles. The bottles were
filled with various colored fluids, some of
them transparent and some of them not,
which the doctor took to the light and ex-
amined critically.
When the woman had gone the doctor
said: THAT woman, and many others like
her in the city, makes from $1,000 to 5000
a year with comparative ease You under
stand, of course, that a great many per-
sons come from all parts Of the United
States to consult specialists of one kind
another in my profession. 1t Is needless
to say that the patients are well off, or
they could not come. They go to the best
hotels. Take nv case as a specialist in
stomach diseases, for instance, of which
there are forty or more, each requiring
radically different treatment. Nervous
prostration almost invariably results from
some form of stomach trouble, and we
have to remove the cause before we can
restore the nerves.
a
glance that it would be out of the ques-
ton for him to take his meals at the hotel
table. In fact, / must cut off solids alto
gether and feed him with medically pre-
pared juices of meat and such things. The
large hotels will not turn their kitchens
into diet kitchens, even for doctors who
pay big prices for a suite of offices i'm the
hotel. They will not prepare food for in
valids. They are too busy to be bothered
with such orders, which interfere with the
routine of the service and put everybody
concerned a
The same thing is true OF clubs that have
apartments for members and of bachelor
apartments where meals are served You
certainly could not get such food properly
cooked in any boarding house that L ever
heard of. no matter how much you paid.
There are about two hundred women who
live at home who know how properly to
prepare food for specialists There are
about two hundred more who know how to
do it, but are not employed simply because
they VIII not obey orders. i am not re-
ferring to my own practice just now. but to
women who do work for brain specialists
and other branches of the profession outside
of the regular practitioner. The old-fash-
ioned family doctor has usually had his
opportunity to cure before a patient con-
suits specialists.
Physicians know the women who can
them. just as they do for trained nurses
whom they regard as most advisable for
any particular patient. The diet woman
gets her instructions. She must buy only
the best beef or mutton for juice from the
raw meat: she must only so much salt
TO the grain, so much Of the yolk of an
egg, and must take such precautions as
are specified by the physician. She must
not make barley water from ordinary bar
ley. but from the best pearl barley Every
thing must be cooked just so long and
strained. The patients supply of food is
ample in its variety, but it must be pre-
pared in a manner to suit his particular
case. The physician sends to his hotel or
club every day a fresh supply; therefore a
fresh supply is required every day from the
woman who cooks it, and 1t must be de-
livered on time"