[Nursing department 643]

In Ulcers of the stomach there is no coating.

In high fevers, the tongue may also be red and cracked as well as coated in some parts.

A dark brown or blackish coating indicates a serious condition in acute diseases.

Strawberry tongue is seen in Scarlet Fever.

Cankered tongue and month may be due to local conditions, or to stomach, liver and bowel disorders.

In Peritonitis the tongue is generally dry and red (beefy).

Cholera Infantum.—­At first coated, then dry and reddish.

Constipation.—­Tongue is generally coated.

Biliousness.—­Yellowish dirty coating.

DIET

Foods and drinks for the sick room.

Diet.—­The importance of diet and its relation to the needs of the system in disease can hardly be overrated.  One should not only know what kind of food to give, but how much and how often it should be given to get the best result.  Food should be given in small quantities in acute diseases and at regular intervals.  It will digest better.  The food should never be left in the sick room after a patient has finished with it.  This applies to all kinds of food, but especially to milk, for it absorbs impurities from the air more readily than any other kind of food.  How often do we see milk standing in a sick room and uncovered; how often is it placed in an ice box uncovered.  I have often wondered how such people could eat some foods I have seen prepared for them in such a careless way and with no attempt to make it appear tempting to their poor appetite.  Foods should be given just as regularly as medicines, when so ordered, especially in long wasting diseases like typhoid fever.

The kind of food.—­Under each disease directions for the kind of food, time, and quantity have been given.  In diseases like typhoid fever, special care must be given.  It is better in that disease to give too little than too much food and the proper kind of food must be given.  I shall never forget the death of a minister in my childhood days.  I was about four years old.  This minister was loved by everyone and when he died of typhoid fever, everyone was grieved and shocked and they could not understand why God should take such a useful man away.  It made a great impression upon me.  I found out more about the “why” afterwards.  This minister was in the convalescent stage and very hungry.  He wanted a genuine boiled dinner.  That is bad enough for a well man.  The doctor forbade it, but the family gave him the dinner and the result, of course, was fatal.  It could not be otherwise.  We often blame God for our own sins.  Many people are killed by kind friends.  I have seen it more than once.  Peanuts, popcorn, and candy have caused many convulsions in children and some deaths.