When the hydrocloric acid is deficient, proteid food should be given very sparingly--one of the best forms being Casumen in solution (see 224) or white of egg. Milk is not advisable in such a condition, unless malted, or in the dried form. Fats are objectionable, and if the salivary secretions are defective, starches should be given in dextrinized (super-cooked) form, or well toasted. Fruit sugars, which are Carbohydrates in a digested form, are better still, and may be given freely to patients of nearly all kinds. They are abundantly provided in figs, dates, stoneless raisins and sultanas, and in other sweet fruits, such as bananas, strawberries and apples. Ample nourishment can be provided by these, supplemented by egg dishes (chiefly white); flaked and super-cooked cereals, such as Granose Biscuits, Kellogg Wheat Flakes, Wallace P. R. and Flakit Biscuits, Archeva Rusks, Melarvi Crisps, and toasted or wholemeal bread; flaked or malted nuts; legumes soufflé; well-cooked farinaceous puddings; Horlick's Malted Milk and many other proprietary health-foods; and vegetable broths--for which see Recipes 1-23, as well as those which conclude this section on pages 123 and 124. One of the most important of these latter is 'Haricot Broth,' which is a perfect substitute for "beef tea," being far more nutritious and also free from the toxic elements which are contained in that dangerous and superstitiously venerated compound. [Sidenote: =The Beef Tea Delusion.=] Dr. Milner Fothergill stated that probably more invalids have sunk into their graves through a misplaced confidence in the value of beef tea than Napoleon killed in all his wars. It is, in reality, a strong solution of waste products and of uric acid, consisting largely of excrementitious matter which was in process of elimination from the system of some animal, through the minute drain pipes which form an important cleansing medium or "sewage system" in all animal flesh. To make "beef tea," these poisonous substances are stewed out to form the decoction, while the animal fibrin, the portion of the meat that has some nutritive value, is thrown away. Beef tea consequently acts as a strong stimulant, tends to increase inflammation and fever, and in all such cases lessens the chance of the patient's recovery, as the system is already battling against toxic elements in the blood. To add to the amount of the latter is obviously unwise and dangerous. These remarks apply also to 'meat essences' and to 'beef extracts,' which are frequently made from diseased flesh which has been condemned in the slaughterhouses.