water or milk, ptomaines, bad
hygiene, and certain drugs.

~Bowels.~--The stools vary in number from three to twelve a day. They
may be greenish yellow in color, containing mucus and particles of
undigested food and, in prolonged cases, blood.

~Treatment.~--Rest in bed and total abstinence from food for from
twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Salines are usually given by mouth
or by rectum, but this is left to the discretion of the physician.
Very little water is given by mouth during the period of total
abstinence. Thirst is relieved by bits of ice, and enemas are given if
necessary.

~Administration of Diet.~--When acute symptoms have disappeared and
the stools are becoming more normal in character and number, a fluid
diet of from four to six ounces is administered every three or four
hours or oftener if patient is very weak. Brandy may likewise be given
in cases in which exhaustion is marked.

~Dietetic Treatment.~--Concentrated foods of the simplest character
and only those known to agree. Proprietary infant or invalid foods,
except malted foods, which exert a laxative effect; among those found
to be good may be mentioned Mellin's Food, Imperial Granum, and
Racahout.

~Foods to Be Avoided.~--Fatty foods; pork, veal, and shellfish; all
foods that are subject to fermentation in the stomach or intestinal
tract (sugar).

~Foods to Be Limited.~--Fluids, soup, beverages, etc., because they
impose more work on the intestines.

ENTEROCOLITIS

~Seat of Inflammation.~--Lower intestine and colon.

~Differentiating Characteristics.~--More mucus and blood in stools;
greater prostration; greater rise of temperature; and less anemia than
in chronic enteritis.

~Dietetic Treatment.~--Practically the same as in other diarrheas.

DYSENTERY

~Characteristic Symptoms.~--Acute and spasmodic pain, tenderness and
distention in the bowels, moderate fever, straining and a constant
desire to defecate, small stools containing blood and mucus, loss of
weight and marked anemia when condition becomes chronic.

~Treatment.~--Rest in bed absolutely necessary; the use of the bedpan
made obligatory; soreness relieved by hot turpentine stupes or spice
poultices.

~Dietetic Treatment.~--No food for a period of from thirty-six to
forty-eight hours, after which fluids and the regime recommended in
acute diarrhea are advisable. In chronic dysentery the diet is
practically the same. The extreme exhaustion and anemia accompanying
t