As the patient should have a constant supply of pure air for his lungs, so he should also have _plenty of pure cold water_ for his stomach, to allay his thirst and assist in diminishing the heat of fever, and in eliminating the morbid poison from his blood. Though cold, the water for drinking should not be less than 48 or 50 deg. Fahrenheit. Whenever there is ice used for cooling the water, the nurses should be very careful not to let it become colder, than the temperature just indicated, except in typhoid cases, when the stimulating effects of icy cold water and ice may prove beneficial. 55. DIET I have little to say with regard to _diet_, at least to physicians. During great heat and high fever, the patient should eat little or nothing; but he should drink a good deal. Substantial food must be avoided entirely. When the fever abates, he can take more nourishment, but it should be light. Meat and soup should only be given, when desquamation has fairly begun. Stewed fruit (especially dried apples) will be very agreeable to the patient. In great heat, a glass of lemonade may be given occasionally; however, great care must be taken not to spoil the patient's taste by sweets, or to allow him all sorts of dainties, such as candies, preserves, &c., as it is the habit of weak parents, who like to gratify their darlings' momentary desires at the expense of their future welfare. In torpid cases, some beef-tea, chicken-broth, and even a little wine with water, will raise the reactive powers of the patient. During convalescence, meat may be permitted to such patients as have been accustomed to eat it, and, in general, the patients may be allowed to gradually resume their former diet (provided it were a healthy one), with some restriction in regard to quantity. In general, under water-treatment, the digestive organs continuing in a tolerably good state, and the functions in better order, we need not be quite so careful with respect to diet, as if the patient were left to himself, or treated after any other method of the drug-system. Let the food be plain, and the patient will scarcely ever eat too much. To stimulate his appetite by constantly asking him whether he would not like this or that, is sheer nonsense; and to satisfy his whims, against our better conviction, is culpable weakness. From this general outline, I shall now pass to the treatment adapted to the different forms of scarlatina. 56. TREATMENT OF SCARLATINA SIMPLEX, OR SIMPLE SCARLET-FEVER.