In the slighter cases all that is required is to correct the defects in the dietary, which may be ascertained from a careful inquiry into the dietetic history of the patient. Tea must be reduced or eliminated from the dietary, sweets should be cut off, bread and starchy foods must be reduced, and all indigestible articles of food should be avoided. In cases where meat foods have been taken three or four times daily, these must be reduced, and a lacto-vegetarian regimen substituted. If these points are attended to, and three simple meals a day prescribed, recovery soon takes place.

In the more severe cases the above will not suffice. Then complete rest in bed for some weeks is essential, and the diet from the outset has to be adapted to the digestive capacity of the patient. It may be necessary to begin with a diet of I, 2, or 3 pints of milk in the twenty-four hours, which may require to be given diluted or peptonised. As the state of digestion improves, beef-tea, bread, milk puddings are cautiously added to the dietary. In some cases it is useful to add some extract of malt If the symptoms persist in spite of treatment carried out carefully along these lines, it may point to the conclusion that the case is one of organic disease - ulcer of stomach or duodenum - which will only be cured by operative treatment.

Reference has already been made to the value of extract of malt in certain cases. This is more particularly applicable to certain cases of a gouty nature, in which the symptoms are in all probability the result of defective pancreatic activity. Malt may be given in the form of Maltine, Extract of malt, and Homax. The last-mentioned preparation has very special value in this class of case.

The only other point to which it is necessary to draw attention is to cases in which flatulence is the predominant feature. In these cases, in addition to attention to diet along the lines already indicated, it is essential to specially restrict the vegetables and pulse foods.