loss of weight and anaemia. There are
besides local symptoms: flatulence, abdominal pain, abdominal
distention, constipation, or looseness of the bowels with mucus in the
stools, foul breath, coated tongue, loss of appetite, or an abnormal
capricious appetite. Such symptoms are often wrongly ascribed to
intestinal worms.

_What are the common causes of chronic indigestion?_

This is generally the result of a bad system of feeding, either the
prolonged use of improper food or of improper methods of feeding.

Examples of bad methods of feeding are, coaxing or forcing to eat,
rapid eating with insufficient mastication eating between meals,
allowing a child to have his own way in selecting his food, as when he
lives largely upon a single article of diet. Things to be considered
under the head of improper food are, indulgence in sweets, desserts,
etc., the use of imperfectly cooked foods, especially cereals and
vegetables, and of raw or stale fruits.

_Is it not true that a diet or a special article of food which does
not make a child ill is proof that such a diet or such a food is
proper for a child?_

By no means; with many people the only guide In feeding children is
that the article in question did not make the children sick, therefore
it is allowable. This is a very bad principle. A better one is to
adopt such a diet as will nourish the child's body with the least
possible tax upon his digestive organs; in other words, to exclude
articles which experience has shown to be injurious to most children.

_How should chronic indigestion be managed?_

This is a much more difficult matter than the treatment of acute
indigestion, for, as it is usually the result of the prolonged use of
improper food or of an improper method of feeding, a cure can be
accomplished only by a discovery and removal of the cause.

_Is chronic indigestion curable?_

In the vast majority of cases it is so, but only by faithfully
observing for a long period the rules for simple feeding laid down
elsewhere. One of the greatest' difficulties in the way of recovery is
that parents and nurses are unwilling to follow a restricted diet long
enough to secure a complete cure, or to change radically their methods
of feeding, but expect the child to recover by simply taking medicine.

_For how long a period is it necessary to continue very careful
feeding?_

In any case it must be done for several months; with most children for
two or three years; wi