MEDICINAL FOOD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1365, 28 April 1883, Page 4

MEDICINAL FOOD.

. . » _ • I. A good deal of. discussion ; awakened in medical cirolca aboutthe uses of vegetables and fruits as curative agencies ; for instance, sqnio claimthat 'if a man : isick'with a fever be a; vegetable and, milkdiet; His chances 'of recovery will be increased; and some are; of . opinion.: that: eruptive' disease^, are much less vioietit if the patieni confine; himself .to fruit; and breadi TKus-'a tendency is inoated to substitute a hygienio diet for . the old pills and nnd powder—toxuro the patient by food.' The quacks and charlatans who are quick to seize upon ally , popular tendency in its vevy outset, have been some l tinie in the markot'with tlieh 1 "tonic :l extracts" of; wheat, ' .oatmeal/ celery, k., the character of the "ex ! tract" ; being apparent-enough 011; the; first sniff'lifter the' bottle is opened, as for the most part composed of a very long-known distillation, * remarkable chiefly for its toxic properties. There; is a humorous side v to this in the fact; that men should turn to, good and; natural food, • the very thing they should eat at all times, as to a regimen possessing a medicinal property curative of their ills. However, for the benefit of those who will persist, in looking upon oatmeal as a substance for gruel, arid cracked wheat as only fit for dyspeptics, I insist, on the authority of medical science, that asparagus has much value as a diuretic,. and; is excellent for those troubled with rheumatism, Sorrel is cooling in its effect upon the blood in' fevers. The carrot, of which the yellow core should be rejected, because not easily digested, is helpful in liver derangement. Cauliflower and celery are f serviceable to people whose employments are sedentary, the former being easy of digestion and highly" "nutritive, and the latter cooling and refreshing to the nerves. The Lettuce has its value, too,: in febrile excitement, but 1 should be simply prepared, and not in thecommon fashion of the highly seasoned and over oiled salad, but boiled to adapt it to a delicate stomach, or eaten 'fresh from the gai'den with one's bread.—"Phrenological'Journal."'