doctor. Osier, the
famous Professor of Medicine at Oxford, truly observed that he was the best
doctor who knew the uselessness of medicines. But when public opinion
demands a bottle, and is unwilling either to accept or pay for advice
alone, the doctor may be forced to give medicines which he feels are of
little value, hoping that their suggestive power will be greater than is
their therapeutic value.

Neuropaths invariably contract the habit of physicking themselves, and
taking patent foods and drugs which are valueless.

So universal is this pernicious habit that we deem it desirable to
criticize it here at some length.

One highly popular type consists of port wine, reinforced (?) by malt and
meat extracts, and sold under a fanciful name. It has about the same value
as a bottle of port, which costs considerably less. It is well to remember
that many a confirmed drunkard has commenced with these "restoratives".

Malt extracts are also popular. They contain diastase, and therefore aid
the digestion of starch, but the diastatic power of most commercial
extracts is negligible.

Meat extracts of various makes contain no nourishment, but are valuable
appetisers. Meat gravy is as effective and far cheaper.

Foods containing digestive ferments, which are widely advertised under
various proprietary names are practically valueless, as are the ferments
themselves sold commercially. Digestive disorders are very rarely due to
deficiency of ferments, while pepsin is the only one among all the ferments
that could act (and that only for a little while) in the digestive system.

Some of the disadvantages of predigested foods have been noted, and their
prices are usually so exorbitant that eggs at 2_s._ 6_d._ each would be
cheaper. The remarks of Sollmann the great pharmacologist are pertinent:

_Limitations_. The administration of food in the guise of medicine is
sometimes advantageous; but medicinal foods are subject to the ordinary
law of dietetics, and therefore cannot accomplish the wonders which are
often claimed for them. The proprietary foods have been enormously
overestimated, and have probably done more harm than good. The ultimate
value of any food depends mainly on the amount of calories which it can
yield, and on its supplying at least a minimum of proteins. In these
respects, the medical foods are all inferior, for they cannot be
administered practically in sufficient quantity t