I have just received a letter (while the proofs of this sheet are in course of correction) from a retired barrister in his seventy-third year, who, after a successful career in India, ‘retired in 1870 to enjoy the _otium cum dig_.’ Among other interesting particulars relating to animal and vegetable diet, he tells me that ‘somehow I did not, with a purely vegetable diet, excite saliva sufficient for digestion, and being constitutionally a gouty subject, I have suffered very much from gout until comparatively lately (say the last eight months), when an idea came into my head that by the use of potash I might get rid of the calcareous deposit accompanying gout, and have been taking 30 drops of liquor potassæ in my tea with very good effect. But within the last ten days, thanks to your article in “Knowledge” of January 16, 1885, I have, as it were by magic, become young again. I was not aware that the diastase of malt had the same powers as the salivary secretions. When I read your article, I commenced the experiment on my morning food, namely, oatmeal-porridge, of which for several years I have cooked daily four ounces, of which I could never eat more than half without feeling distended for an hour or two, and then again feeling hungry and a craving for more food. Since I followed your directions I have been able to eat comfortably nearly the whole (five ounces with the malt). I feel no distension for the time nor craving afterwards; I am comfortably satisfied for hours; but what is more, the diastased porridge has had the effect of removing the tendency to costiveness, which was sore trouble, and it has rendered my joints supple, and destroyed the tendency of my finger and toe-nails to grow rapidly and brittle. All this seems to have changed, as if by magic. I, therefore, write to you as a public benefactor, to thank you for your seasonable hints.’ I quote this letter (with the permission of the writer, Mr. A. T. T. Petersen) the more willingly and confidently from the fact that I have lately adopted as a regular supper diet a porridge made of oatmeal, to which about one-sixth or one-eighth of malt flour is added. I find it in every respect advantageous, far better than ordinary simple oatmeal-porridge. The following from Pavy, p. 229, indicates further the desirability of assisting the salivary glands and pancreas in digesting this otherwise excellent food. Speaking of oatmeal-porridge, he says: ‘It is apt to disagree with some dyspeptics, having a tendency to produce acidity and pyrosis, and cases have been noticed among those who have been in the daily habit of consuming it, where dyspeptic symptoms have subsided upon temporarily abandoning its use.’ My readers should try the following experiment. It supplies a striking demonstration of the potency of the diastase of malt.