Oertels' treatment, somewhat widely known, and not without due measure of fame, is based upon a series of measures having as object the withdrawal from both circulation and the economy at large, as much of the fluids as possible. It is especially adapted for the relief of those obese who are suffering fatty degeneration of the heart. The _menu_ is as follows: _Breakfast_.--Pour to five ounces of tea or coffee with a little milk; two to two and a half ounces bread. _Dinner_.--Three or four ounces of roast or boiled meat, or moderately fat food; fish, slightly fat; salad and vegetables at pleasure; one and a half ounces of bread (in certain cases as much as three ounces of farinaceous food may be permitted); three to six ounces of fruit; at times a little pastry for dessert.--In summer, if fruit is not obtainable, six to eight ounces of light wine may be allowed. _Tea_,--A cupful (four to five ounces) of tea or coffee, with a trifle of milk, as at breakfast; one and three-fourths ounces of bread; and exceptionally (and at most) six ounces of water. _Supper_.--One to two soft boiled eggs; four or five ounces of meat; one and three fourths ounces of bread; a trifle of cheese, salad, or fruit; six to eight ounces of light wine diluted with an eighth volume of water. The quantity of beverage may be slightly augmented at each meal if necessary, especially if there is no morbid heart trouble. Schwenninger (Bismarck's physician), who opened a large sanitarium near Berlin a few years since for the treatment of the obese, employs Oertel's treatment, modified in that an abundance of beverage is permitted, provided it is not indulged in at meals; it is forbidden until two hours after eating. Both Oertel's and Schwenninger's methods have procured grave dyspepsias, and fatal albuminurias as well, according to Meyer and Rosenfield. It has been charged the allowance of beverage upon which Schwenninger lays so much stress in the treatment at his sanitarium has a pecuniary basis, in other words a commission upon the sale of wines.[2] [Footnote 2: The sanitarium is owned by a stock company, Schwenninger being merely Medical Director.--ED.] Thus, it will be observed that while some forbid beverage, others rather insist upon its employment in greater or less quantities. Under such circumstances, it would seem but rational, before undertaking to relieve obesity, to establish its exact nature, and also the role taken by fluids in the phenomena of nutrition. Physiologists generally admit water facilitates nutritive exchanges, which is explained by the elimination of a large quantity of urine; the experiments of Genth and Robin in this direction appear conclusive.