Cincinnati, Ohio, May 10, 1899.
To the Editor:
—It is the generally accepted opinion that typhoid fever patients should be placed exclusively on a liquid diet. I am constrained to believe that this practice is the out growth of custom or tradition, handed down from generation to generation, and not the result of clear or practical observation. It is, I believe, generally conceded, and I do not know why, that the giving of solid food retards the recovery of the patient and predisposes to relapses.Starting out with a desire to test this matter more thoroughly and to prove, if possible, the contrary to be true, I have, in my private practice, for some time given nearly all of my typhoid patients some solid food in connection with liquids. I do not wish to be understood as saying that I have given them quantities or great varieties. I have allowed