290 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



beginning has already been made in this direction, but there is still 

 room for a large amount of investigation before definite suggestions of 

 general application can be made. 



The providing of the proper diet for prisoners and inmates of insane 

 asylums and other institutions has long received attention, althoygh 

 its systematic study is comparatively recent. Some years ago special 

 investigations of the diet of the insane were undertaken in Russia. 

 Some work was also carried on in Germany. Special interest attaches 

 to the recently published report of the diet of pauper lunatics in asy- 

 lums and lunatics of poorhouses in Scotland, which gives the details 

 of investigations carried on under Government authority. Perhaps 

 the most important and extended investigation of this nature is that 

 recently conducted in the hospitals for the insane in the State of New 

 York, in which the special agent in charge of our investigations has 

 already made some studies under State auspices. The annual cost of 

 the food supply to these hospitals has been over 81,000,000. The 

 investigations already made show that not only may the total cost be 

 considerably reduced and large wastes prevented, but that the dieta- 

 ries of the inmates of these institutions may be much improved by 

 attention to the facts and principles established by nutrition investi- 

 gations. These investigations have also shown the need for more 

 accurate inquiries regarding the food requirements of different classes 

 of persons in these institutions. In tlie State of New York alone not 

 far from 100,000 people of the dependent and delinquent classes are 

 maintained in public institutions at an annual expense of 126,000,000, 

 of which about $6,000,000 is expended for food. This will give some 

 indication of the vast interests at stake in this matter when we take 

 the whole country into account. Certainly here is a field of investi- 

 gation upon which the Department might well enter, and in which 

 results of great practical value might be expected. 



In early times the idea was prevalent that the diet of prisoners and 

 other delinquent classes should be so poor and inadequate that it con- 

 stituted a punitive measure. This is now recognized as wrong, and 

 most civilized nations endeavor to feed such persons adequately. The 

 food requirements obviously vary with the amount of work performed, 

 and in most cases it is essential that the cost of the food be moderate. 

 Food investigations are required in prisons and other institutions in 

 order that satisfactory dietary standards may be formulated, and also 

 to compare the rations actually fed with proposed standards. The 

 importance of such studies has been often recognized in the past; for 

 instance, under the authority of the institutions' commissioner in 

 Boston, Mass., dietary investigations were carried on in a number of 

 reformatories, etc. , in that city. Studies have also been made at the 

 reformatory at Elmira, N. Y., some of which had the sijecial object of 

 determining whether it was possible to favorably affect the moral wel- 

 fare of inmates through their diet. 



Under special government authority the diet in Scotch prisons has 

 been recently studied, and mention may also be made of recent work 

 of a similar nature in Berlin. In manj' cases it has been found that 

 it is possible to furnish a more satisf actor}' diet and at the same time 

 diminish the cost. 



Nutrition investigations have also been made in almshouses, orx>han 

 asylums, and similar charitable institutions in times past in this and 

 other countries, Germany having taken the lead. The importance of 

 providing a proper diet for inmates of such institutions has received 

 government recognition in Great Britain^ and investigations bearing 



