DIET OF PREGNANT WOMEN.--Some degree of digestive disturbance and loss of appetite is the rule early in pregnancy. By the fourth month these conditions invariably cease, and the appetite and the ability to digest will greatly improve. The diet from the very beginning of pregnancy should be plain and easily digested. It is not possible to formulate an absolute table of what or what not to eat, as the same foods do not agree equally well with all patients. The individual taste should be catered to within, reason, and the meals should be taken at regular intervals. Articles of diet that experience shows do not agree with the patient should be rigidly excluded from the menu. A varied diet of nutritious character is essential during pregnancy in order to ensure good blood, health, and strength. A monotonous diet, or a diet composed largely of stale tea, coffee, and [78] cake, is not permissible, and may do untold harm. Pastries and desserts of all kinds should be excluded. In the later weeks of pregnancy, because of the large size of the womb, the diet should be cut down as the stomach is interfered with in the process of digestion. Should the patient at any time during pregnancy experience a loss of appetite, or an actual disgust for food as sometimes occurs, it is preferable to suggest a change of scene and surroundings rather than the use of medicine. A short vacation, a change of table, new scenery, will promptly effect a cure. This condition is mental rather than physical; the patient allows herself to become introspective; the daily routine becomes monotonous and stale; hence a change of a few days will be all that is necessary. If it is not possible for the patient to obtain a change of scene, a complete change of diet for a few days will often tide over the difficulty. We have known patients to take kindly to an exclusive diet of kumyss, or matzoon, or predigested foods, with stale toast or zwieback, to which can be added stewed fruits. Alcoholic drinks should be left out entirely.