SANITARY COMMISSION.
Atlantic Hospital Transport Service.
THE REGULATION OF DIET FOR PATIENTS.
The simplest possible arrangements should be made for the diet of patients which will be consistent with their proper treatment.
At the outset, the cook may be ordered to prepare daily for breakfast, to be ready at 7 A. M., ten gallons of tea and fifteen loaves of bread in slices, with butter, for every hundred patients on board; for dinner, ten gallons of beef-stew made with vegetables, and fifteen loaves of bread, for every hundred patients on board; for tea, the same as for breakfast.
Orders for special diet should, as far as possible, be confined to beef-tea, arrow-root or farina gruel, milk-porridge, and milk-punch.
Quantities of each of these articles, except the punch, may be prepared by the cook once a day, and delivered to the matron, under whose care they should be warmed in portions over spirit-lamps, as required at any time during the day or night.
As a general rule, for each hundred patients on board, there should be prepared, for twenty-four hours,—
| 2½ | gallons of beef-tea, |
| 4 | gallons of gruel, |
| ½ | gallon of milk-porridge. |
Where the patients are chiefly suffering from illness, especially if from fevers, the above quantities will be found larger than is necessary. Where a large proportion of them are severely wounded, they may need to be slightly increased.
By estimating the quantity of each article which will be required for the twenty-four hours, as thus instructed, the surgeon in charge will find it best to give his orders to the cook for everything at once, one day in advance.
If the quantities ordered prove too small, the deficiency can be made good by the matron with crackers, tea, canned meats, or meat essence, &c., in the pantry; it being best, if possible, to avoid any call upon the cook or the ship's kitchen for this purpose.
If the quantities prove too large for one day, the saving can be used the next. Whether too large or too small, a proper modification can be readily made in the order to the cook for the remainder of the trip. The surgeon in charge will in this way be relieved of the necessity of giving further consideration to this department of administration, which, if not thus simplified, will be found to be a source of much trouble and anxiety, greatly withdrawing his attention from surgical and medical duties proper. Associated surgeons should be careful to make no demands for diet, inconsistent with this arrangement.
Milk-punch is best made with cold water in the pantry. This and all other cold drinks can be made under the superintendence of the matron, without any call upon the cook. The cook should, however, be required to keep a supply, as large as convenient, of hot water, constantly ready to meet any demand from a surgeon or the matron.