_Pears_, _quinces_, _plums_, _damsons_, _peaches_, _apricots_, _cherries_ and _grapes_, all contain a fairly high percentage of carbohydrates, and a high percentage of valuable food-salts. As is well known, it is possible to live upon grapes alone for several weeks at a time, as has been abundantly proved at the various resorts where the “grape cure” is taken. At such places, several pounds of grapes are eaten daily, and in phthisis and other wasting diseases this cure has been attended with some remarkable results. Sweet grapes are exceedingly valuable as a food: they contain a large percentage of water in the purest form; they also contain glucose, or grape-sugar, in a condition in which it is readily assimilated into the circulation. Instead of eating great quantities of starch, therefore, which requires much effort for proper conversion into this same grape juice within the body, why not eat the grapes themselves—thereby obtaining this material in its original and purest form? In chronic bronchitis, heart disease, gastric and intestinal atony, and frequently in Bright’s disease, grapes are very beneficial.
_Raspberries_ and _strawberries_ contain a large amount of acid, and for that reason must be eaten with discrimination, especially at first. Yet they are as a rule an exceptionally wholesome fruit, their natural acidity clearing the blood of uric acid and kindred poisons, and acting as a natural tonic and stimulant. The strawberry also contains a large quantity of iron, and for that reason is very valuable for anæmic patients. There are a few individuals who cannot eat strawberries without unpleasant consequences. Needless to say, such persons should refrain from eating them, though the fault in such cases is probably more in the patient than in the fruit.
The _pineapple_ is a spurious fruit, or rather a collection of berries, each corresponding to a flower which, under cultivation, is seedless. The juice is highly antiseptic, and of great benefit in certain afflictions of the throat. In diphtheria it appears to be especially valuable, the juice possessing a cleansing quality of remarkable power. Its effect upon diseased mucous is very noticeable, yet, strange to say, its action upon healthy mucous, in limited quantities, is quite harmless and rather invigorating. This is proved by the fact that pineapple juice has often been given to babies less than a year old, with nothing but beneficial results.