Philadelphia, May 11, 1907.
To the Editor:
—The report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry in regard to medicinal foods in The Journal, May 11, 1907, is exceedingly important and most instructive. The knowledge that we had before was such as to have led very many exact and thoughtful clinicians to consider these foods of extremely limited value. The report gives most clear and impressive evidence that this is indeed true. In the teaching and practice of dietetics we need more than anything else, I think, greater exactness. We need this most of all in those cases in which the diet is necessarily very restricted and in which, consequently, inaccuracies may be dangerous. The report is especially welcome, therefore, for it is in this class of cases that these foods are most likely to be used and misconceptions regarding their value are very general. The common use of these