73 



and with dietary standards for persons in normal mental conditions 

 with equivalent amounts of muscular activit}^, it is possible to judge 

 of the adequacy of the diet; and a comparison of the amounts of food 

 issued with those supplied to the dining rooms and those eaten and 

 wasted atiords information concerning the economy in the utilization 

 of food. The statistics regarding food eaten and food wasted are 

 summarized and discussed in the following pages. 



The quantities of nutrients and energy per man per day in the total 

 food served— i. e., that eaten and that rejected at the tables — and the 

 proportion of the quantity of each nutrient and of energy in the total 

 served that was rejected are summarized for all the studies at the 

 (iovernment hospital in Table 31. For convenience in the discussion 

 of results the diUerent studies in which the conditions were similar 

 have been grouped together and av^eraged, and for purposes of com- 

 parison the results of studies made in similar institutions elsewhere 

 are also included in the table, as well as dietary standards for persons 

 in health with varying amounts of muscular activity. 



A tentative standard for the average population of hospitals for the 

 insane, proposed by Atwater as the result of studies made in the New 

 York State hospitals for the insane/' is also given in the table. This 

 standard, which is given in the publication referred to on the basis "per 

 p(>rson per day," was proposed for a population consisting of about 

 ecjual numbers of males and females, in which the food consumption of 

 the latter averaged about 0.7 that of the former. The corresponding 

 values "per man per da}"," computed in accordance with these data, 

 is also given in the table, as this can be better compared with the 

 results of the studies in the Government hospital, which were almost 

 entirely with men. Such facts as could then be found on record, and 

 the observations in the New York hospitals for the insane, led to con- 

 clusions that the standard proposed is decidedly liberal rather than 

 the opposite. 



«N. Y. State Com. Lunacy Rpt. 13 (1900-1901), p. 119. 



