INAOTTION. 35 



" The minimum amount was about . . 4 oz. bread. 



' 1 oz. beef. 



"Total, ., . 5oz." ] 



Assuming the amount of solid food required to keep the 

 system of an adult male in proper condition to be from thirty 

 to forty ounces, it is seen that even the maximum amount 

 above given is so far insufficient for the purposes of nutri- 

 tion, that death from inanition must result, sooner or later, 

 in the majority of instances. This is assuming that the food 

 be of proper quality; while the testimony taken by the 

 commission showed that the quality was always inferior, 

 generally disgusting, and that no variety of diet was af- 

 forded. 



The effects of insufficient food upon the power of resist- 

 ing cold was one of the most marked phenomena. Even in 

 the mild climate of the South, frost-bite and gangrene of the 

 extremities were very frequent. These occasional results, 

 taken in connection with the extreme emaciation, the pecu- 

 liar mental condition, etc., which go to make up the general 

 aspect of inanition, presented a picture more distressing than 

 can well be imagined. The description by De Meersman of 

 the famine in Belgium in 1846 and '47, though it may seem 



1 Narration of Privations and Sufferings of United States Officers and Sol- 

 diers while Prisoners of War in the hands of the Rebel Authorities. Being the 

 Report of a Commission of Inquiry, appointed by the United States Sanitary 

 Commission. With an Appendix containing the Testimony. Philadelphia, 1864, 

 p. 111. 



The commission consisted of Valentine Mott, M. D., LL. D., Edward Delafield, 

 M. D., Gouverneur Morris Wilkins, Esq., Ellerslie Wallace, M. D., Hon. J. I. Clark 

 Hare, and Rev. Treadwell Wai den. The statement quoted from the report of 

 Dr. Wallace was corroborated by the sworn testimony of numerous officers and 

 men who had been prisoners of war, and the facts were admitted by many of the 

 public authorities directly or indirectly in charge of the prisoners, so that there 

 can be no doubt of their general accuracy. (See reports and testimony of sur- 

 geons and others in charge of prisoners, in the trial of Henry Wirtz.) 



