Mary Boland's 1898 handbook is a practical guide for nurses and all others who care for the sick, providing instruction in the proper feeding to promote health and well-being.

In preparing the following pages for publication, it has been my object to present a collection of recipes and lessons on food, for the use of nurses. The idea was suggested by the need of such a book in the training-school of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. It is hoped that it will be found useful in other hospitals and schools where the teaching of the subject of food is receiving attention, and also to those who care for their own sick and invalid ones at home. Part I—the explanatory lessons—includes general remarks on chemistry, lessons on the properties of the different classes of foods, and special articles on Air, Water, Milk, Digestion and Nutrition. Part II consists of recipes, menus of liquid, light, and convalescent's diet, and articles on Serving, Feeding of Children, and District Nursing. In arranging the explanatory lessons, information has been drawn from many sources, but particularly from the works of Atwater and Parkes. It is the intention that these lessons be studied in connection with the practical work; they contain matter suggestive of that which it is necessary to understand in order that something may be known of the complex changes which take place in food in the various processes of cooking. The recipes have been carefully chosen and perfected, some having been changed many times before final adoption. In most of them the quantities are small,—such amounts as would be required for one person,—but by[iv] multiplying or dividing the formulæ any quantity may be made, with uniform results. Detailed descriptions have been given in order that those who know nothing of cooking may be able, by intelligently following the instructions, to make acceptable dishes. Repetition and similarity of arrangement will, it is hoped, serve to impress upon the mind certain points and principles. In some instances the recipes are original, but for the most part the ideas have been gathered from lessons and lectures on cooking, and from standard books, among them Mrs.