4 REPORT ON THE DIETARIES 



ing their food with superstitious awe and fear, and hesitating 

 sometimes to give direct replies to such occasional queries as 

 were essentially necessary to be put to obtain accurate informa- 

 tion regarding their dietaries and modes of life. Under these 

 circumstances, a&d seeing that such a position of matters pre- 

 vented the inquiry being as exhaustive as we wished, it is hoped 

 that any omissions made in the -compilation of these statistics 

 may be pardoned, and with regard to the cases enumerated, we 

 can assert that they may be accepted as true and typical of the 

 great mass of the Scotch agricultural population. 



Without recapitulating in detail the particulars obtained, we 

 would merely refer those interested in seeing the different articles 

 of food consumed at the rural labourer's table, as also the num- 

 ber of daily meals itjaken by him and his family, with other 

 details of his family's income, to Appendix " A " of this Eeport ; 

 and by way of analysis of the different values (dietetically) of 

 the various substances in daily and w r eekly use, we have to refer 

 to Appendix " B," where we have, in a few selected instances 

 from different localities, endeavoured to show the amount of the 

 probable weekly consumpt of different articles of food by the 

 labourer and his family, and have tabulated against the quantity 

 used by each example, the relative amount of nutritive food con- 

 sumed, as expressed by the equivalent number of grains of car- 

 bon and nitrogen in the respective quantities. The data upon 

 which the calculations of these elements are based have been 

 taken from the chemical analysis of the substances themselves, 

 as specified by Dr Edward Smith* and Professor Lyon Play fair, -J- 

 in recent publications. 



In submitting, without further comment, the collected infor- 

 mation obtained in the Appendices to this Eeport, we may draw 

 attention merely to such points in the returns as appear of more 

 special interest, and as such calling for particular remark. 



The first noticeable feature in the Scotch rural dietary, which 

 must strike even the most casual .observer, is its uniformity in 

 most of the districts throughout the country. "Whether inland 

 or sea-coast, highland or lowland, the great staples for sustaining 

 life amongst the peasantry of Scotland are oatmeal and milk. 

 In this particular, the difference between the English and Scotch 

 labourers is very decided; for while the use of oatmeal in the 

 sister country is almost unknown, it forms the leading article of 

 daily sustenance amongst 90 per cent, of the families of the 

 labouring classes in Scotland. Indeed, so much is this the case, 

 that amongst the fifty-six families cited in our returns (besides 

 many others, the full particulars of which have not been yet 



* Practical Dietary, by Dr E. Smith. London. 1864. 



t On the Food of Man in Relation to his Useful Work. Lyon Playfair. 

 Edinburgh, 18G5. 



