Medical reflections on the water cure. / By James Freeman, M. D. Physician to the Cheltenham Hydropathic Institution.

  • Freeman, James.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical reflections on the water cure. / By James Freeman, M. D. Physician to the Cheltenham Hydropathic Institution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/64 (page 13)
    the more a patient eats, short of excess, the more force he will acquire to throw off his dis- ease. In this respect hydropathy differs essen- tially and agreeably from other methods of treatment. It must not be supposed from this, that every patient is permitted to exercise his own discretion, either as to the quality or quantity of his food. On the contrary, the physician is guided by the nature of the case, and occasionally finds it necessary to place a patient upon particular or restricted diet. The general maxim is, that the patient ' should eat plentifully of simple but nourishing food. Three meals are given in a day ; breakfast, dinner, and supper. Bread and butter constitute the only substantial portion of breakfast and supper; and milk is the only beverage which is supplied, except water. The dinner consists of various articles of plain and nutritious diet. No restriction is here practised, except for the pur- pose of wholesomeness. Fish, flesh, and fowl ; vegetables, fruit, and eggs, may all be taken. But care must be had to avoid too much admix- ture of different articles at the same time. All stimulant and irritant compounds are scrupu- lously avoided. Good hours for taking the meals in England are—eight for breakfast, two for dinner, and eight p. m. for supper. The diet has been found a source of great dissatisfaction, by English and French patients, at hydropathic establishments in Germany. The mode of