All liquid or semiliquid food should be subject to the chewing movements until it, also, is mixed with saliva. The stomach should not be overloaded with either food or water and for this reason six or more light meals a day, at regular intervals, is best. A dilated stomach does not necessarily indicate that the digestive juices are not secreted in normal proportions, and easily digested proteins need not be avoided. It is desirable to furnish the proteins in concentrated form, as in meats, so as to get the most nutrition with the least bulk. They should be thoroughly masticated. Milk may be used, with limewater, if sipped slowly and mixed with saliva. Sugar should be used very sparingly, because it ferments readily and aggravates the distention. If it is evident that fermented products are in the stomach, it should be washed out with a stomach pump. A tumor near the pylorus, or constriction of the pyloric orifice by prolapsus, will also cause dilatation of the stomach. Beef juice, any of the better grades of meats, well masticated and containing no gristle, limewater and milk, soft-cooked eggs, and well-cooked cereals and vegetables should constitute the diet. Avoid vegetables containing coarse fiber, fried foods, and freshly baked bread. Liquid with the meal should be avoided, on account of the tendency to overload the stomach. Cold water, taken a swallow at a time at intervals during the day, has a tonic effect on the relaxed muscles. It also incites the flow of gastric juice. The best and quickest means of correcting a prolapsed and dilated stomach is by rest in bed for several weeks, with special exercises to raise the viscera and to strengthen all abdominal muscles, as well as the muscular coat of the stomach itself. The food must be given in small quantities every hour. [Sidenote: Ulcer of the Stomach] When this condition is severe, accompanied with severe pains and vomiting of blood, the nourishment is given through the rectum for from five to ten days. Then, for ten days, a milk diet with bouillon, barley water, a beaten egg, and once a day, after the third day, strained oatmeal gruel is taken. Limewater is added to the milk to avoid the formation of large curds and to neutralize the acids of the stomach. The patient is given half a cup of milk every hour for three days, from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. From the third to the tenth day the quantity may be increased to one cupful, then to a cup and a half, and the periods between feedings lengthened to two hours. If the milk is thoroughly heated, but not boiled, before the limewater is added, it digests more readily. After ten days, for the succeeding ten days the nourishment should be given every two hours and the diet varied by semiliquid foods, such as gruels, toast water, soft-boiled egg (once a day), beef juice, two softened crackers (once a day), gelatin, buttermilk, and strained soups. (See page 313, Semisolid Foods.)