Feeding the sick is both a science and an art; a science in so far as it takes cognizance of the great laws of supply and demand in a physiologic sense; an art in so far as it affects the application of these laws to the individual.
All matter is endowed with a certain amount of energy, which manifests itself differently, under different conditions. Certain chemical substances, by virtue of the nature of the elements that compose them and their relationship to each other, that is, their structure, have the power to produce one or more manifestations of energy. They are said then to have potential energy.
To give rise to the manifestations of energy, these substances must have a certain degree of instability or lability; that is, must be capable under definite conditions of undergoing changes in structure, disruptions, etc., all of which give rise to motion.
The substances