acidity, the addition of alkalies or lime-water may help
us, or these may be used and the milk scalded by adding a fourth of
boiling water to the milk, which has been previously put in a warm
glass. Some patients digest it best when it has the addition of a
teaspoonful of barley-or rice-water to each ounce, the main object being
to prevent the formation of large, firm clots in the stomach,--an end
which may also be attained by the addition at the moment of drinking of
a little carbonated water from a siphon. For the sake of variety,
buttermilk may be substituted for a portion of the fresh milk, and
though less nourishing it has the advantage of being mildly laxative.

When used as an exclusive diet, skimmed milk gives rise to certain very
interesting and what I might call normal symptoms. Since at first we can
rarely give enough to sustain the functions, for several days the
patient is apt to lose weight, which is another reason why exercise is
in such cases undesirable. This loss soon ceases, and in the end there
is usually a gain, while in most rest cases an exclusive milk diet may
be dispensed with after a week. Where milk is taken alone for weeks or
months, it is common enough to observe a large increase in bodily
weight. I have seen several times active men, even laboring men, live
for long periods on milk, with no loss of weight; but large quantities
have to be used,--two and a half to three gallons daily. A gentleman, a
diabetic, was under my observation for fifteen years, during the whole
of which time he took no other food but milk and carried on a large and
prosperous business. Milk may, therefore, be safely asserted to be a
sufficient food in itself, even for an adult, if only enough of it be
taken.

During the first week or two, exclusive milk diet gives rise to a marked
sense of sleepiness. It causes nearly always, and even for weeks of its
use, a white and thick fur on the tongue, and often for a time an
unpleasant sweetish taste in the early morning, neither of which need be
regarded. Intense constipation and yellowish stools of a peculiar odor
are usual. Of the former I shall speak in connection with the use of
milk in special cases. The influence of milk on the urinary secretion is
more remarkable, and has not been as yet fully studied.

There is, of course, a large flow of urine; and in dropsical cases due
to renal maladies this may exceed the ingested fluid and carry away very
rapidly the dropsical