ble. In these cases rectal feeding is resorted to
and from two to three nutrient enemas[107] alternated with saline enemas
are given daily.

Under ordinary conditions when the patient has not been operated upon
for gastro-intestinal disorders, gall bladder or kidney diseases, the
dietetic regime is as follows:

~Postoperative Feeding.~--First day: starvation, a little hot or cold
water or carbonated water may be given if there is no nausea or
vomiting. If nausea or vomiting persists, a few spoonfuls of champagne
or clam broth or juice will often check or relieve it entirely. Fluids
alone must be given during the first forty-eight hours after the
operation. When stimulation is necessary, albumen water or coffee
containing a spoonful of brandy[108] will be found useful. When nausea
entirely disappears, well-skimmed broth milk, clam or oyster broth,
buttermilk, koumiss, malted milk, may be given. A gradual return to
the normal diet is made, adding soft toast, soft-cooked eggs, junket,
ice cream, meat, wine, or fruit jellies before solid food is
introduced into the dietary.

~After-care in Feeding.~--Care must be observed to prevent indigestion
after almost any operation, but especially after abdominal operations
there is a great tendency to form gas, hence anything which in any way
increases the tendency may bring about a condition of extreme
discomfort and even acute pain to the patient. For this reason it is
unwise to follow too closely the desires of the patient as to the food
to be eaten; for example, corned beef and cabbage may be the thing of
all others desired by the patient, but it would be the height of folly
to risk such a meal until all danger of digestional disturbances is at
an end. It is wiser to avoid such disturbances than to trust to
relieving them after they occur. The digestion of even a perfectly
normal individual is at a disadvantage when that individual is
deprived of outdoor exercise. How much more so will it be when the
entire organism is taxed by the ordeal through which it has just
passed. Convalescence is never hastened by imprudent eating, and a
condition as bad as the original may be brought on by lack of care on
the part of the one whose business it is to feed the patient.

CONDITIONS REQUIRING SPECIAL DIETS

~Diet After Appendicitis.~--After a simple operation for appendicitis
the same regime is carried out as in stomach and intestinal
operations: fluids on the second day, soft diet o