If you try milk alone, the stomach will not retain it long, so you
must mix the nourishing fluid with soda-water. Half an hour afterwards
administer a spoonful of meat-essence. Beware of giving the patient any
hot fluid, for that will damage him almost as much as alcohol. Continue
with alternate half-hourly instalments of milk and meat-essence; supply
no solid food whatever; and do not be tempted by the growing good
spirits of your charge to let him go out of doors amid temptation. At
night, after some eight hours of this rapid feeding, you must take a
risky step. Make sure that the drinker is calm, and then prepare him for
sleep. That preparation is accomplished thus. Get a draught of hydrate
of chloral made up, and be sure that you describe your man's
physique--this is most important--to the apothecary who serves you. A
very light dose will suffice, and, when it is swallowed, the drugged man
should be left in quietude. He will sleep heavily, perhaps for as much
as twelve hours, and no noise must be allowed to come near him. If he is
waked suddenly, the consequences may be bad, so that those who go to
look at him must use precautions to ensure silence. In the morning he
will awake with his brain invigorated, his muscles unagitated, and his
craving utterly gone.
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