In mild cases of chronic gastric catarrh there should be no special limitation of the amount of food. It must, however, be of the right kind and quality. In the majority of cases the articles permitted are the same as in ordinary cases of indigestion. The meals should be as follows:-

Breakfast

Eggs lightly boiled or poached. Fish of the light kinds previously detailed. Dry toast, rusks, or pulled bread, and a trace of butter. Milk-tea (China tea infused in milk instead of water), or cocoa made with milk.

Lunch Or Midday Meal

Lamb or mutton free from fat, mashed potato; white bread or biscuit; rice, sago, or tapioca pudding. A glassful of Burgundy or Bordeaux wine diluted with aerated water.

Tea

A cupful of China tea with plenty of milk; one slice of bread and butter, and a piece of sponge or Madeira cake.

Dinner Or Evening Meal

No hors-dceuvre or soup. Fish, any light kind; tender beef, mutton, or lamb, free from skin and gristle; breast of fowl, pheasant, or turkey; potato, mashed and creamed; spinach, seakale, asparagus, vegetable marrow, tender green peas, kidney beans, or cauliflower; white bread or plain biscuit; custard, junket, jelly, milk pudding, stewed fruit, wine and aerated water.

The patient should have three meals a day, with just a cup of tea and a bit of bread and butter at 4.30 p.m. Butter must be eaten very sparingly because it contains butyric acid. Fats and fat meat should be taken in the strictest moderation because they check the secretion of gastric juice. One need scarcely say that this applies to fat ham and bacon as well as to foods cooked in fat. Certain fish should be avoided because they contain too much fat or because the bones and scales cannot be easily removed. These include sardines, herrings, mackerel, eel, and salmon. Pork, duck, goose, and turkey (except the breast) are also too rich in fat. The patient must be particular to remove every particle of skin and gristle from all kinds of meat, fish, or fowl. He must avoid "high" game, tinned meat or fish, entrees, spiced meat, sausages, pork pie, etc. He must not eat pastry, brown bread, oatmeal porridge, sweet biscuits, and cakes containing currants, raisins, lemon peel, or seeds. Stewed fruit may be eaten with plain, unsweetened biscuits, e.g. "butter puffs" cracknel, or water biscuits. Fruit containing much acid must be avoided. But it is equally important to avoid those containing seeds, e.g. currants, gooseberries, cranberries, strawberries, grapes, and figs. Seedy fruits may be rubbed through a sieve. Acid fruits may be cooked with some bicarbonate of soda to neutralize the acid. The soda not only neutralizes the acid, but it necessitates the use of a smaller amount of sugar, which is also of importance, because an excess of sugar causes a profuse secretion of mucus by a catarrhal stomach. Raw apples, pears, and all kinds of nuts are taboo, but a ripe banana, the pulp of an orange which can be scraped with a spoon, and a ripe plum or two may be eaten; grapes can be eaten if care is taken to remove the seeds and skin. Pickles, salads, and raw vegetables should be forbidden, especially cucumber, radishes, onions, lettuce, and watercress, but a ripe tomato which is free from seeds may be eaten.

Beverages

The patient should eat without drinking; any liquid which he may have should be taken at the end of a meal, preferably about half an hour afterwards. The best beverages are plain water, China tea, thin cocoa (van Houton's, Cocoatina, or Cocoa nibs), whey, buttermilk, Perrier, Apollinaris, Salutaris, and other gaseous waters.

Many patients have been accustomed to take some alcohol daily. It would probably be useless to forbid them to take any at all, they cannot easily give it up. Moreover, some patients with chronic gastric catarrh are benefited by taking a small amount of alcohol, if it be of the right kind and quality. They must not take ale, beer, stout, porter, sweet wines, or spirits. But they may have a wineglassful of Burgundy, Bordeaux, or red Hungarian wine, diluted with an alkaline or gaseous water, at the end of the midday and evening meals.

The use of alkaline waters is strongly recommended, especially those of Vichy, Vals, Plombieres, Ems, Carlsbad, Marienbad, and the waters of Harrogate, Bath, and Leamington. They should be taken warm, but not very hot. They cleanse the mucous membrane, remove tenacious mucus, neutralize acidity, and check fermentation. They thereby stimulate the mucous membrane and promote the activity of the muscles of the stomach. Residence at the source of these waters is frequently recommended for the cure of gastric ailments. Some patients may require a stronger alkaline water as an aperient. The waters of Piillna, Con-dal, or Rubinat are recommended for that purpose. They cause a free evacuation of the bowels, and relieve the congestion of the abdominal veins.