Practical dietetics : with special reference to diet in disease / by W. Gilman Thompson.

  • Thompson, W. Gilman (William Gilman), 1856-1927.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical dietetics : with special reference to diet in disease / by W. Gilman Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    INTRODUCTION. The subject of the dietetic treatment of disease has not received the attention in medical literature which it deserves, and it is to be regretted that in the curriculum of medical colleges it is either wholly neglected or is disposed of in one or two brief lectures at the end of a course in general therapeutics. Upon examining the stand- ard treatises upon the Theory and Practice of Medicine, as well as monographs upon important diseases, such as those of the circula- tion, nervous system, and skin, one cannot fail to be impressed with the meagre notice given to the necessity of feeding patients prop- erly, and the subject is usually dismissed with such brief and in- definite phrases as The value of nutritious diet requires mere mention, A proper but restricted diet is recommended, and favourite, if not convincing, expressions are, The patient should be carefully fed, and General dietetic treatment is of primary im- portance. With such vague directions the dieting must indeed be very general. In many excellent works upon food and dietetics the space de- voted to the practical application of dietetics to disease is compara- tively insignificant, and much less emphasis is given to this matter in hospitals and in the training of nurses than is demanded in the interests of medical science. A writer of wide experience in practical dietetics, Mrs. E. H. Richards, says: At present there are comparatively few persons who are called upon to feed the sick to whom a glass of milk or a pound of beef represent any definite amount of food materials. Still fewer who can tell how much food value a glass of lemon jelly or wme whey represents, and yet the adult patient is dependent upon the attendant even more than the week-old infant for the requisite nutrition. The present volume has been prepared with the view of in some