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Liquid food is proper in all febrile diseases, but especially in phrenitic cases, for these are more arid than mere fevers. The mulse is to be given, unless they are bilious, for it is indigestible in patients who are subject to bitter bile. AlicaAs this term is of frequent occurrence in the works of our author, as in those of Hippocrates, it may be proper to mention, once for all, that the χόνδρος of the Greeks and the alica of the Romans was the species of grain called Spelt (Triticum Spelta) broken down into rough granules; that is to say, it was coarsely ground Spelt. washed with water, or mulse, is a good thing; also it is good to give pottages of a plain kind, such as decoctions of savory, of parsley, or of dill, for these are beneficial to the respiration, and are diuretic, and a free discharge of urine is beneficial in phrenetics. All kinds of pot-herbs, especially melons, for their gluten is good for lubricating the tongue, the trachea, and for the alvine evacuations; but the best of all are beet, blite, cress, gourd in season, and whatever else is best in its own season. The juice of ptisan in a very liquid state, and containing little nourishment, is most proper at first, being made always thicker as the disease progresses. But the quantity of nourishment is to be diminished at the crises, and a little before them. And, if the disease be protracted, the customary food must not be abstracted, but we must give nourishing articles from the cereals, in order to support the patient; and when there is need, of the flesh of the extremities of beasts and fowls, mostly dissolved in the soups: these ought to be completely dissolved during the process of boiling. The rock fishes are preferable to all others;All the Greek and Arabian authorities on dietetics hold, that fishes caught among rocks are particularly excellent. See Paulus Ægineta, t. i. p. 159. but on the whole we must choose the best in the country, for countries are believed to differ as to the kinds of fish which are best in them. Fruit containing wine must be given restrictedly, for it is apt to affect the head and præcordia; but if required by the state of the strength and of the stomach, we must give such articles as apples boiled in mulse or roasted in suet. Of other things, each is to be diluted with hot water, if you give it solely for the refreshment of the stomach; but if it is wanted also for strength, you must not dilute the vinous part much. In a word, the food must be such as I have described.
