386 OF FOOD, AND THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 



ample of which will be hereafter alluded to ( 419). A very excellent scale of 

 dietaries adapted to the different conditions of prison life, has been issued by the 

 Government on the recommendation of the Inspector of Prisons. The effects of 

 confinement have been well shown in the experience of the Edinburgh House of 

 Refuge, which was first established in 1832, for the reception of beggars during 

 the Cholera, and which has been continued to the present time. The diet was 

 at first a quart of oatmeal porridge for each person, morning and evening ; and 

 at dinner 1 oz. of meat, in broth, with 7 oz. of bread, making altogether about 

 23 oz. of solid food a day. During some months, this diet seemed to answer 

 very well ; the people went out fatter than they came in, owing to the diet being 

 better than that to which they had been accustomed; but afterwards a prone- 

 ness to disease manifested itself in those who had been residents there for a con- 

 siderable time, and the diet was therefore somewhat increased, with good effect. 

 The quantity of animal food was probably here too small; and the total weight 

 might still have been sufficient, if it had been differently apportioned. The 

 inmates of Workhouses, especially those who have been accustomed to poor 

 food during their whole lives, require much less than those more actively em- 

 ployed ; and it is of importance that the diet should not be superior in quantity 

 or quality, to that which the laboring classes in the respective neighborhoods 

 provide for themselves. In the Edinburgh workhouse, of which the inmates 

 usually have good health, they are fed upon oatmeal porridge morning and even- 

 ing, with barley broth at dinner ; the total allowance of dry nutriment is about 

 17 oz.; namely, 13 oz. of vegetable, and 4 oz. of animal. A series of Diet-scales 

 for Paupers has been issued by the Poor-Law Commissioners, who state that 

 these have all been employed in different parts of England, and have been found 

 to work well; the average daily amount of solid aliment in these is only 25 

 oz. ; and of this not above 18 oz. would be dry nutriment. 1 



407. The smallest quantity of food upon which life is known to have been 

 supported with vigor, during a prolonged period, is that on which Cornaro states 

 himself to have subsisted. This was no more than 12 oz. a day, chiefly of 

 vegetable matter, with 14 oz. of light wine, for a period of 58 years. There is 

 only one instance on record, in which his plan was followed; and there are 

 probably few who could long persevere in it, at least among those whose avoca- 

 tions require much mental or bodily exertion. It is certain, however, that life 

 with a moderate amount of vigor may be preserved for some time, with a very 

 limited amount of food; this appears from the records of shipwreck and similar 

 disasters. In regard, however, to those who have been stated to fast for a 

 period of months or even years, taking no nutriment, but maintaining an active 

 condition, it may be safely asserted that they were impostors, probably possess- 

 ing unusual powers of abstinence, which they took care to magnify ( 422). 



408. Of the quantity which can be devoured at one time, this is scarcely the 

 place to speak; since such feats of gluttony only demonstrate the extraordinary 

 capacity which the stomach may be made to attain by continual practice. Many 

 amusing instances are related by Captain Parry in his Arctic Voyages; in one 

 case, a young Esquimaux, to whom he had given (for the sake of curiosity) his 

 full tether, devoured in four-and-twenty hours no less than 35 Ibs. of various 

 kinds of aliment, including tallow candles. A case has more recently been 

 published of a Hindoo, who can eat a whole sheep at a time; this probably 

 surpasses any other instance on record. The half-breed voyageurs of Canada, 

 according to Sir John Franklin, and the wandering Cossacks of Siberia, as testi- 

 fied by Capt. Cochrane, habitually devour a quantity of animal food, which 

 would be soon fatal to any one unused to it. The former are spoken of as very 



1 A copious collection of Dietaries will be found in Dr. Pereira's "Treatise on Food and 

 Diet." 



