This book has been written especially for the sick. The foods here recommended for special diseases are not suited to the well. A person in perfect health must simply repair the tissues of the body with proper foods, every twenty-four hours; but when ill, the first object is to regain health, with a special diet suited to the disease. Simple, easily digested foods recommended for the sick are not necessarily good for even children or invalids; in fact, foods for the well and foods for the sick are not interchangeable.

My sole desire in writing this book has been to assist those persons who must care for their sick at home, and the doctor and the nurse, without trespassing on the domain of either. In disease each case requires special attention, and the knowledge that comes from observation cannot be. supplanted by any dictated rules. Book directions are valueless unless modified by common sense.

I have purposely avoided the caloric plan of feeding, as I find many physicians who object to this theoretical and mathematical method of feeding, especially in diseases of the stomach and intestines.

As an assistance to my thirty years' experience in feeding the sick, I have read most of the recent works on diet, and have added any new ideas that have been well tried out. The lists of foods given for each disease may be depended upon for ordinary cases, but each case must be watched carefully and the food changed if it does not agree. The value of a thorough acquaintance with the facts and the requirements of each individual disease cannot be too highly estimated.

Bartholow says: "The food supplied to the organism may be so managed as to secure very definite therapeutical results, and by employment of a special and restricted method of feeding, cures may be effected not attainable by medicinal treatment."