OF SCOTCH AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. 3 



per cent. ; in Yarrow (Selkirkshire), 1*400 ; and in Linton (Jed- 

 burgh), it is only 0493 per cent. It must, therefore, be evi- 

 dent that the primary classification of foods into " heat-pro- 

 ducing" or respiratory food (carbonaceous), and " flesh-forming" 

 food (nitrogenous) is, if attended to in practical use, highly im- 

 portant ; and it is an inquiry worthy of more consideration than 

 has hitherto been given it, whether the labouring classes might 

 not with advantage partake more liberally than they do in their 

 daily dietary of a mixture of pease and beans with other farina- 

 ceous food, so as to render the mixed dish or bread really palat- 

 able. In India, where animal diet is not allowed at all, the 

 Brahmins understand the advantages of the use of such a diet 

 as we recommend ; and the laity who dare to eat of " Brahmins 

 food" (a mess of rice and lentils), are punished. The most 

 palatable and wholesome way in which we advise the use of 

 pease or beans, is in the form of soup, made with a very little 

 suet, or dripping, or pork-bone. Cooked in this manner, pease 

 or beans (dry) afford an agreeable dinner, and a diet possessed of 

 highly nutritive value. 



Local distinctions or peculiarities of diet may exercise an im- 

 portant influence in determining the particular localisation of 

 any epidemic or disease amongst a given class ; and to form a 

 proper and accurate estimate of the sanitary condition of any 

 section of the community, it is necessary to give due considera- 

 tion to the usual diets (as to nature, quantity, and quality), 

 of the district. Hence an investigation, like the present, 

 amongst the agricultural population, whose sanitary arrangements 

 are universally known to be very deficient, and greatly behind 

 those of England, acquires a special value of its own ; and with 

 the view of making the inquiry as exhaustive as possible, we 

 have appended a number of instances selected from different dis- 

 tricts of Scotland, both insular and mainland rural, and from 

 as wide a geographical area as possible — choosing in each instance 

 true typical and characteristic specimens of the classes re- 

 presented. 



The number of selected instances given amounts to fifty-six, 

 and they include the dietary of ploughmen, shepherds, cattlemen, 

 iield-workers (male and female), and occasional day-labourers, 

 with an example of miners employed in the lead-mines of 

 Dumfriesshire, and of railway porters employed at road-side 

 stations in agricultural districts. 



The difficulty encountered in the collection of these returns 

 was in many instances considerable, and the utmost tact was 

 frequently requisite to obtain the desired information in detail ; 

 for the lower classes, especially in country districts, are generally 

 averse to divulge the secrets of their domestic arrangements and 

 mode of living — regarding the process of weighing and measur- 



