There is no one diet that is indicated in epilepsy; yet patients having this disease are greatly helped or harmed by judicious or indiscreet eating. Indigestion or slow and labored digestion, a distended stomach, or an overloaded colon, are common causes of attacks. The epileptic should be abstemious. Unfortunately, the natural tendency of most patients is to overeat. Indigestion should at once be corrected by appropriate treatment, and constipation prevented or relieved. The character of indigestion, the existence of gastric or intestinal indigestion, together with other conditions, will govern the diet that is appropriate to individual cases. All epileptics should be taught the relationship between digestive disorders or constipation and their ailment, and the necessity of eating abstemiously and of maintaining regular and full daily bowel movements.

Sweets ought to be avoided by epileptics. It is also generally believed that meats should be used very sparingly. They are usually prescribed to be eaten not oftener than once daily, and then in small amounts. Great benefit has been observed in most cases from the restriction of this article of diet. Gowers, however, describes a case in which paroxysms were always aggravated by a vegetarian diet and relieved by the moderate use of meat. It is evident, therefore, that no one diet is applicable to all cases,the most important thing being the restriction of the amount of food eaten and the limitation of the variety of food to those articles that are easiest to digest and to absorb.

During the last few years, many physicians have found a salt-free diet of great benefit in preventing epilepsy or in lengthening the intervals between attacks. Milk and fruits contain a minimum amount of sodium chloride but almost all other classes of foods can be permitted in moderate amounts provided they are cooked without salt. It is difficult to keep a patient long upon such a diet. Therefore it must be used intermittently rather than steadily. It is possible that the relatively large amount of salt in meat and ordinarily cooked with it makes it unadapted to use by epileptics rather than its protein content or extractives.

The following is a sample menu for a day of the epileptic colony at Chelfont St. Peter: Breakfast, oatmeal porridge with new milk, tea, and bread and butter: Dinner, roast or boiled or hashed beef, mutton, or fish, cabbages and potatoes, followed by rice, sago, tapioca, suet, or jam-roll, pudding, tea with bread and butter or dripping or sometimes golden syrup or currant cake: Supper, some pudding, generally with milk and bread, varied occasionally with soup. The following are sample menus of the State Hospital for Epileptics at Gallipolis, Ohio:

Sunday

Breakfast

Oatmeal and milk; potatoes in stew (3 ounces); apple stew (7 ounces) - green apples; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); coffee (1/2 ounce); milk. Dinner: Vegetable soup; stewed chicken or roast veal (4 ounces); mashed potatoes; stewed tomatoes (5 ounces): rice pudding; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Supper: Corn-starch pudding (1/2 ounce corn-starch; raisins, 1/10 ounce); fruit, canned or fresh; cookies or cinnamon cake; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Monday:

Breakfast

Cracked wheat; boiled or steamed potatoes in jackets (4 ounces); prunes; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk.

Dinner

Beef soup (beef bones, 3 ounces); roast beef (6 ounces); bread dressing and gravy; boiled onions (4 ounces); steamed potatoes, pared (6 ounces); bread; butter (1/2 ounce); blanc mange; corn bread; milk. Supper: Mush and milk; evaporated peaches (1 ounce); bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Tuesday:

Breakfast

Rolled oats; stewed prunes (1 3/4 ounces); butter (1/2 ounce); coffee (1/2 ounce); milk. Dinner: Vegetable soup; roast mutton (6 ounces); mashed potatoes

(6 ounces); parsnips, boiled (6 ounces); cucumber pickles; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); bread pudding; milk. Supper: Baked potatoes (5 ounces); apple-sauce (7 ounces) - green apples; ginger bread; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Wednesday:

Breakfast

Hominy (2/3 ounce) or rolled oats (3/4 ounce); bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk toast; peaches; coffee (1/2 ounce); milk. Dinner: Bean soup; roast beef; stewed corn; boiled potatoes, pared

(6 ounces), or boiled turnips (8 ounces); rice pudding; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Supper: Mush and milk; evaporated apricots (1 ounce) or rhubarb sauce (4 ounces); bread; pickles; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Thursday:

Breakfast

Oatmeal; prunes; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); coffee (1/2 ounce); milk. Dinner: Beef soup; boiled beef; boiled cabbage (8 ounces); boiled potatoes in jackets (4 ounces); bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk; bread pudding. Supper: Fruit (4 ounces); rice; butter (1/2 ounce); milk; bread. Friday:

Breakfast

Steamed potatoes, pared (6 ounces); fruit, evaporated or fresh; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); coffee (1/2 ounce); milk. Dinner: Oyster soup or vegetable soup; fresh fish; succotash (lima beans 1 ounce and canned corn 3 ounces); boiled potatoes, pared (6 ounces), or vegetable oysters (6 ounces); corn-starch pudding; bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk. Supper: Fruit (4 ounces); rice; butter (1/2 ounce); milk; bread. Saturday:

Breakfast

Potatoes (4 ounces) or hominy (2/3 ounce); bread; peaches; butter (1/2 ounce); coffee (1/2 ounce); milk; bread. Dinner: Beef soup; boiled beef, corned or fresh (6 ounces); sauerkrout (6 ounces); boiled potatoes, pared (6 ounces), or boiled beans (1 1/2 ounces); bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk; rice pudding. Supper: Mush and milk; fruit (4 ounces); bread; butter (1/2 ounce); milk.