232. Tapioca Jelly.—Wash one ounce of tapioca, soak it over night in cold water, and then simmer it with a bit of lemon peel until it is thoroughly dissolved; sweeten it to taste, and let it cool before using.
233. Rice Candle.—Mix an ounce of ground rice smoothly with a little cold water, and stir it into a pint of boiling water; boil it for fifteen minutes, and then sweeten it to taste and flavor it with nutmeg. Use it warm or cold.
234. Isinglass Milk.—Soak quarter of an ounce of clear shreds of isinglass in a pint of cold milk for two hours; then reduce it by boiling to half a pint, and sweeten to taste. Cool it before using.
235. Refreshing Drinks.—In feverish conditions cooling drinks, that is beverages which are in themselves refrigerant, such as lemonade, and those which are made from aromatic herbs, are grateful and helpful to the patient, but pure, distilled or filtered water, is the best for invalids. Hot drinks lower the temperature of the body by evaporation; excessively cold drinks check perspiration, and endanger congestion of some vital part; but water of a moderate temperature is innocuous. Even in dangerous fevers the burning thirst of the sufferer can safely be assuaged by the frequent administration of small bits of ice. In cases of incomplete nutrition, cocoa, chocolate, and other preparations of the fruit of the cocoa-palm, are invaluable adjuncts; the active principle of all these is identical, and the chief nutritive element is oil. A very small quantity of cocoa will sustain life a long time.
236. Filtered Water.—Put a quart of clear water over the fire, and just bring it to a boil; remove it, and strain it three or four times through flannel; then cool it in a covered jar or pitcher, and give it to the patient in small quantities as the condition requires.
237. Jelly Water.—Mix one large teaspoonful of wild-cherry or blackberry jelly in a glass of cool water; drink moderately, and at intervals.
238. Flaxseed Lemonade.—Pour one quart of boiling water over four tablespoonfuls of whole flaxseed, and steep three hours covered. Then sweeten to taste, and add the juice of two lemons, using a little more water if the liquid seems too thick to be palatable. This beverage is very soothing to the irritated membranes in cases of severe cold.
239. Barley Water.—Wash two ounces of pearl barley in cold water until it does not cloud the water; boil it for five minutes in half a pint of water; drain that off, put the barley into two quarts of clean water, and boil it down to one quart. Cool, strain, and use. Pearl barley largely contains starch and mucilage, and makes an excellent soothing and refreshing draught in fevers and gastric inflammations.
Nourishing Drinks.—These are useful when liquid nourishment is better suited to the invalid's condition than solid food.
240. Iceland Moss Chocolate.—Dissolve one ounce of Iceland moss in one pint of boiling milk; boil one ounce of chocolate for five minutes in one pint of boiling water; thoroughly mix the two; and give it to the invalid night and morning. This is a highly nutritive drink for convalescents.