Diuretic and laxative. Antacid, diuretic. Allays inflammation of mouth and throat. Alterative. May give symptoms of iodism, which see. Diaphoretic, diuretic, and sedative. Antispasmodic and sedative. In overdose, Condy's Fluid is a solution of the Contains two per cent of the strong Gives a yellow color to all the secre- SEIDLITZ POWDERS. One of each Laxative. LIST OF DRUGS IN COMMON USE-(Concluded). Tonic and astringent. Nitrate. Gr. j. Produces discoloration of the tissues, begin- Action antagonized by salt. ning inside the mouth. Lunar caustic. Astringent. See Antimony. Stimulates skin and kidneys, arrests hæmor- SULPHURIC ACID. CHAPTER VIII. Groups of food material-The process of digestion-Preparing and serving food-Feeding helpless patients—Water and ice—Milk— Animal broths-Gruels, etc.—Receipts. ALL animal bodies are made up of the four elements, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, together with a small quantity of mineral matter. Oxygen and hydrogen, in combination, form water, which enters into all constituent parts of the body, amounting to more than two thirds of its entire weight. Life is maintained by a continual process of oxidation, or combustion, producing heat and energy. To supply material for such production of vital force, and also to build up and repair the waste of the tissues carrying on the work, food is required. Our food, in whatever form we take it, is composed of some or all of the four elements above named, in variously proportioned compounds. The hydrocarbonaceous compounds, of which starch, sugar, fat, and gum, are the most familiar and most important, furnish the materials for oxidation, whatever surplus may be taken into the system being stored as fat. These may be called the heat-producers. Nitrogenous compounds are more especially fleshformers, and go to repair the waste of the body. The most important of them is albumen, and the entire group of related compounds, including fibrin, casein, gluten, gelatine, etc., are, from their resemblance to it, frequently termed albuminoids. Neither group has exclusively the one function, for, in the transformation of albuminoids into living tissue, some heat is produced; and in all healthy tissue there must be present, also, a certain proportion of the hydrocarbons. But the division is still of great value, forming the basis of all scientific dietetics. In addition to these two great groups of food-matter certain earthy salts are required-phosphorus for the nervous system, iron for the blood, lime for the bones, potash and soda for the muscles, etc. These we take insensibly, they being more or less in nearly everything we eat and drink. Common salt (chloride of sodium) is the only one which we make a practice of adding to our food. Hydrogen and carbon very readily unite with oxygen; it is a peculiarity of nitrogen, on the contrary, that it interferes with oxidization. Entering into the composition of the bodily tissues, it protects them, so that they are not rapidly consumed by the heat of the oxidizing hydrocarbons. Their destruction is generally slow, and the amount of nitrogenous matter needed for repair is much less than the amount of hydrocarbons called for as fuel. In a healthy diet-that is, one in which the supply corresponds to the demand-the heatproducers should be more abundant than the albuminoids. In growing children and in convalescents, where disease has caused undue waste of substance, the demand for albuminoids is greater. Even in health it is well to know something of the constituents of our food, and what purpose each serves in the economy of nature; and, when sickness and its effects upon digestion and nutrition are to be taken into |