If the appetite is capricious, or lacking, it needs to be stimulated by food appetizingly prepared and daintily served. A sloppy tray with half-cold tea or coffee will often cause complete loss of appetite. The face and hands of an invalid should always be bathed before a meal; the fresh feeling induced is often an aid to the appetite. The mouth should be carefully cleansed after eating in order that no fermenting food particles may be carried into the stomach to cause disturbance there. Swabbing the mouth with cotton dipped in an alkaline wash or rinsing the mouth with listerine and water or peroxide of hydrogen and water will add greatly to the comfort of the sick, especially when the tongue is coated and the mouth bitter. Great care should be taken not to allow bread crumbs to fall into or under the bedclothes, as a small bread crumb is often a source of great discomfort. The skin is especially sensitive and a small bread crumb may so disturb the mind as to cause a patient, otherwise doing well, to become restless and disturbed. The invalid frequently forgets to ask for water and the attendant should see that a sufficient amount of water is taken. A glass of water should be placed where it is within easy reach and it should not be allowed to become warm. Cool water is one of the prime requisites in the invalid’s dietary. FOOTNOTES: [15] For treatment of pimples, see _Let’s Be Healthy_, by Susanna Cocroft. CHAPTER XI RECIPES FOR FOODS FOR INVALIDS AND SEMI-INVALIDS The purpose is not to give such recipes as are found in ordinary cookbooks, but simply to suggest foods useful for invalids, for semi-invalids, or for chronic, abnormal conditions of digestive organs. _Water._ Pure and carbonated; mineral waters containing iron, sulphur, lithium, etc. Hot drinks should be served at a temperature of from 122 to 140 degrees F. When water is used as a hot drink it should be freshly drawn, brought to a boil, and used at once. This sterilizes and develops a better flavor. Cold water should be thoroughly cooled, but not iced, unless ice water is sipped very slowly and held in the mouth until the chill is off. Water is best cooled by placing the receptacle on ice rather than by putting ice in the water. _Fruit Juices._ Under fruit juices are: grape juice, apple juice, currant juice, pineapple juice, orangeade, and lemonade. They are especially grateful to fever patients and are often used to stimulate the appetite. They are particularly valuable for the acids which they contain, which aid the action of the kidneys and the peristaltic action of the digestive tract; they also increase the alkalinity of the blood. Apples contain malic acid, lemons citric acid, and grapes tartaric acid. The ferment in the ripe pineapple juice aids in the digestion of proteins.[16]