In cases of extreme debility of the digestive organs or arrest of the digestive function in the stomach, the opportunity which science gives the invalid of having digestion accomplished for him outside of the body, is one which the tormented dyspeptic may be expected to avail himself of with eagerness. But the object of using peptonised foods should be always to tide over a difficult time, not to encourage a habit; to give the digestive organs physiological rest, so that they may recover power, not to enervate them by continued disuse. Peptonised foods should therefore be used with caution and under medical advice.

Peptonised Milk

Dilute a pint of milk with a quarter of a pint of water, and heat to a temperature of 140 degrees. Then mix with the hot milk two teaspoonfuls of liquor pancreaticus and twenty grains of bicarbonate of sodium. The mixture is then poured into a covered jar, and placed in a warm place to keep up the heat. At the end of an hour and a half the milk is raised to the boiling point for a few seconds, after which it can be used as ordinary milk.

The Cold Method Of Preparing Peptonised Milk

Add half a pint of water and twenty grains of bicarbonate of sodium to a pint of milk, and three teaspoonfuls of liquor pancreaticus. The mixture is then set aside in a room at about sixty or sixty-five degrees of temperature for three or four hours, at the end of which time it is ready for use. If used at once it need not be boiled; but, if the milk has to be kept any time, it is better to bring it to the boiling point for a few seconds so as to arrest fermentation, and to prevent the production of a bitter flavour.

Peptonised Soups, Jellies, And Blancmanges

These can be prepared with a little ingenuity, it being always borne in mind that the peptonised fluid added to the stock, cream, isinglass, etc., used must have been boiled, and the action of the ferment arrested: otherwise a disagreeable bitter flavour will be communicated to the food, and the result will not be successful. In soups, peptonised gruel can be used instead of water; in jellies it can be added to the isinglass or gelatine and flavouring matters; in blancmanges peptonised milk is added to cream.

Peptonised Milk Gruel

Make a good thick gruel. While still hot add an equal quantity of cold milk. To a pint of this mixture add two teaspoonfuls of liquor pancreaticus and twenty grains of bicarbonate of sodium. Set aside in a warm place for two or three hours, then raise to the boiling point and strain. The mixture should be watched and tasted from time to time, and boiled as soon as a slight flavour of bitterness is perceived. If the pep-tonised process is allowed to go too far, the bitterness produced makes the gruel unpalatable.

Peptonised beef-tea has been already described.

If the above recipes be carefully and intelligently followed, invalid foods of the highest nutritive value to the patient can be made at very moderate cost; and if the previous chapters regarding digestion and assimilation have been well studied, the need for these foods and the rationale of their preparation will be easily understood. The subject will again be dealt with when treating of diet in acute fevers and convalescence from them.