At the present day physicians and laymen, too, are coming more and more to appreciate the importance of what we eat and drink, whether sick or well. When I entered the profession, more than forty-two years ago, little was said about it and less was taught concerning it in the medical schools. All, or nearly all, at that time, empirically believed in the antiphlogistic system of treatment, and almost every sick man, or wounded man, or crazy man, for that matter, was put upon a diet of as near bread and water as possible, and because women were fortunate enough to have babies, they were generally starved for about six weeks, much to their own injury and the inconvenience of the luckless offspring. Why were they starved ? Oh, to prevent inflammation. What was inflammation? Too much blood. Thanks to Prof. W. Gilman Thompson, von Liebig, Sir Henry Thompson, Dr. Atwater, H. C. Wood, and others, the matter of diet has advanced from mere empiricism, from the mere didactic, thoughtless, even ignorant, assertions of the school men, to something approaching an exact science, and, like general therapeutics, is no longer a mere assertion or pill-giving calling, but a well-studied, scientific profession. In saying this I do not mean to say that it yet receives the attention it deserves in the curriculum of our medical schools, - far from it; but great progress is being made, and sooner or later, in the near future, it is bound to receive the attention so important a branch of medical teaching deserves.

When we order a course of diet for a person, sick or well, we should think in carbon and hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Given a person with contracted kidneys, and hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart, and with other ills perchance following in the wake of these, of what use is medicine, of what use are pills and powders and potions, if we allow such a person to stuff himself with an excess of nitrogenous food? There are cases of commencing or confirmed hardening of the arteries from which arise aneurysms, apoplectic seizures, and so on. How useless are medicines in these cases if the eating and drinking of the person be not supervised and rigidly controlled! In such cases, if I must abandon one course of treatment and keep only to the other, give me diet.

"Throw physic to the dogs."

Another practical point is, study the individual.

What may be proper for a well man may kill a sick man. Some individuals can live on milk alone, for a time, when they try it; with others it is impossible. As said before, many a man can eat mutton and grow fat on it; so may he eat eggs and thrive. To others again these are poisons. Such are mere idiosyncrasies, and it is important to heed them. I believe the principles of diet and nutrition, the effects of alcohol and tobacco and such, should be taught to some extent in our general schools, not fanatically, but reasonably. Some general knowledge on this score would add much to the general health of a people and be of assistance to physicians in treating the average man. There is a diet for the young, for the man of middle age, and for the aged person. We commence with milk, the complete food, the balanced ration. We go on through all the luxuries of a lifetime, and as we approach toothless old age we come back again to childhood and to childhood's ration - milk; and in extreme old age the nearer we adhere to the simple bread-and-milk diet the better and happier we are and the longer and more satisfactorily we live. My observation and experience lead me to believe, as intelligent persons grow to middle age and beyond, they, as a rule, become careful as to diet. Indeed, many become cranky or full-fledged cranks, especially the idle and well-to-do. This is all right so they do not approach melancholia. These people are the ones who often take, and who often benefit by, the course at Carlsbad or such resorts.

I once knew of an ardent temperance woman who took her son, a boy of seventeen years, to Carlsbad, thinking the course there might relieve him of some dyspeptic trouble, too many sweets in his diet, probably. She called with John at the office of a prominent consultant, who was very affable and very painstaking, asking many questions, finally coming to diet. "Veil, Shon, vhat do you drink?" "Drink?" said John. "Yes, vhat do you drink?" " Water, of course," answered the mother. "Nothing stronger, I assure you." "Wasser, wasser!" said the doctor, in wild amazement. "Mein Gott! it vill kill him, madame; it vill kill him." It is safe to say madame did not take the doctor's advice as to John's beverages, and left Carlsbad with a poor opinion of its doctors.

Diet is surely one of the great factors in rational living. Take Bright's disease of the kidneys. What a factor is eating and drinking as to its cause! Statistics taken in Chicago as an example show that nearly six per cent. of its male population in early manhood suffer from some form of Bright's disease of the kidneys. In applications for membership to the city fire department 5.9 per cent. were rejected for this cause. A great cause of such troubles is exposure to wet and damp after drinking bouts. Another great cause is overindulgence in malt liquors. Soda-fountain mixtures, made up as they too often are of vile compounds in so-called syrups, are very trying to the kidneys. Overindulgence at table is a prolific cause. Too much nitrogenous food and too much pastry and sweets are obnoxious to the renal tissues. Too much food, or overeating in general, is very bad.

There is, no doubt, much suffering in every way from improper diet, and bad cooking is responsible for many ills and doubtless many deaths. A little observation of the inner life of the poor will cause one to realize in a high degree the utter discomfort and utter misery, even unto death, which come to those untutored and unskilled in providing, in choosing, and in preparing properly for the table even the simplest of foods. Education, supervision, the evolution to a higher plane of living for these people, is the only corrective for such pitiable ignorance and carelessness. These people need supervision, they need instruction. The principles of cooking and choosing of food, practically taught in the schools, would help out in this work. Call it paternalism if you choose, but as we grow wiser in government such matters must come up and be taken up before we reach the highest civilization.