270 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



attempts was to reach an agreement on certain fundamental 

 units and co-efficients necessary for use in determining the 

 food needs of a large mixed population. 



It is familiar knowledge that men engaged in different kinds 

 of work, who might be classed as non-workers, light-workers, 

 and heavy-workers, and women and children, do not all de- 

 mand rations of the same value in calories. The Commission 

 agreed that if the average man, doing medium work, is taken 

 as the unit, then a child up to 6 years should have .5 of this 

 ration, from 6 to 10 years, .7, from 10 to 14 years, .83, and 

 girls above 14 years and women, .83. 



In order to apply these co-efficients of conversion of all mem- 

 bers of the population into " average men," so as to obtain the 

 figure of the total quantity of food stuffs necessary for a 

 given population, it is necessary to know the proportionate 

 occurrence in the population of children, women and men. 

 If the food necessary for a population entirely composed of 

 average men be represented by the unit j, then, on the basis 

 of the distribution of men, women, and children in America 

 and the Allied countries, England should receive .835, France, 

 .845, Italy, .826, and America, .84. That is to say, every 100 

 individuals in England, taken in the proportions in which the 

 different kinds of persons exist in the population, will be 

 equivalent for feeding purposes to 83.5 average man. 



The advisable daily ration for an average man was fixed by 

 the Commission as one having a value of 3300 gross calories. 

 By gross calories is meant the energy value of the foods as they 

 are bought in the market. It was agreed that a reduction in 

 10 per cent, of this amount could be supported for a consider- 

 able time without injury to health. 



With regard to the necessary protein content in a ration of 

 this calorific value and made up of a number of different food 

 stuffs it was agreed that such a ration would almost inevitably 

 contain enough protein matter to meet the needs of the in- 

 dividual. At the same time the Commission records its belief 

 that although meat is not a physiological necessity and hence 



