SUBSTITUTE FOR COD-LIVER OIL.
An excellent substitute [for cod-liver oil] and one often better tolerated, is the fat of pork properly prepared. I direct a thick portion of the rib piece, free from lean, to be selected and allowed to remain in soak for thirty-six hours before being boiled, the water being frequently changed to get rid of the salt. It should be boiled slowly, and thoroughly cooked, and while boiling, the water must be changed several times by pouring it off, and fresh water nearly boiling substituted. It is to be eaten cold in the form of a sandwich made from stale bread, and both should be cut as thin as possible. It is very nutritious, but it should only be given in small quantities until a taste for it is acquired. It is the most concentrated form in which food can be taken in the same bulk, and I have frequently seen it retained when the stomach was so irritable that other substances would be rejected. For this condition of the stomach it may be rubbed up thoroughly in a porcelain mortar and then given in minute quantities at a time. It is made more palatable by the addition of a little table salt, and this will be tolerated, while the salt used for preserving the meat having become rancid, if not soaked out, will produce disturbance even in a healthy stomach. I, some years ago, saved the lives of two of my children, who, on different occasions were suffering from cholera infantum, by feeding them entirely on the fat of pork prepared in the way I have described, and, while nothing else would be retained in their stomachs, not only was it retained, but it also had a beneficial effect on the diarrhœa.—Emmett’s Prin. and Prac. of Gynæcology, p. 102.
A surgeon in London was recently tried and convicted of manslaughter, for not heeding numerous calls from a patient who afterwards died apparently from this neglect.