“Gillon’s Essence of Chicken.—A similar preparation may be more readily made by using this essence of chicken, which may be procured from any homeopathic chemist. This simply requires diluting with hot water in the proportion stated upon each tin case.
“Oatmeal Porridge.—When properly made, this is both wholesome and nutritious, and especially suitable when a patient does not suffer from water-brash, acidity, or from any form of bowel irritation. It has long been the staple food of the Scotch, and produces good muscular fibre and strong bone. It is a very nourishing diet for growing children. The common oatmeal is not equal to the Scotch oatmeal; however, it is not always easy to obtain the latter.
“Pearl Barley forms an excellent meal. It should be boiled for four hours, so tied in a cloth that room is left for the grain to swell. Only so much water should be added from time to time as to feed the barley and supply the waste of evaporation, lest the strength of the barley should be boiled out. It may be served with milk, or (if the patient can digest them) with preserves, jelly, or butter.
“Macaroni-pudding.—Three ounces of macaroni should be soaked for forty minutes in cold water, then added to a pint of boiling milk. This should be stirred occasionally, while it simmers for half an hour; two eggs are then added, beaten with a dessert-spoonful of sugar; also, if desired, a flavoring of lemon. This may then be baked in a pie-dish for twenty minutes.
“Vermicelli may be used instead of macaroni, but requires only twenty minutes’ soaking.
“Part of a loaf of stale bread, boiled, and served with butter and salt, or with preserves, affords a change of wholesome food. Bread-pudding made with eggs and milk, either boiled or baked, may be used, made according to the receipt used at Westminster Hospital, viz.: Bread, one-quarter of a pound; milk, one-quarter of a pint; sugar, one-quarter of an ounce; flour, one-quarter of an ounce; one egg for every two pounds. A pudding may be made in the same way of stale sponge-cake or rusks, to diversify the diet.
“Neave’s Food.—Many years’ experience in the use of Neave’s Farinaceous Food justifies the recommendation of it as an excellent article of diet for infants, invalids, and persons of feeble digestion. Competent chemical analysts have found the preparation to contain every constituent necessary for the nourishment of the body, and this has been abundantly confirmed by what we have frequently observed as the result of its use. For infants it should be prepared according to the direction supplied with the food, taking care not to make it too thick; it also makes a very agreeable and highly nutritious gruel.
“One precaution is necessary: Neave’s food should be obtained fresh and in good condition; if exposed too long, it deteriorates. Under favorable circumstances it keeps good for from six to twelve months. It may generally be procured in good condition from the leading homeopathic druggists.
“Ridge’s, Hard’s, and other farinaceous foods have their advantages, and are preferred by some patients.
“Those foods that are pure starch, as ‘corn flour,’ so called, and all those which thicken in like manner, contain but a small proportion of nutriment, being less sustaining and also more difficult of digestion than ordinary stale bread. They are very unsuitable for young infants and children suffering from diarrhea, indigestion, constipation, flatulence, atrophy, or aphthæ.