SUPPLY OF FOOD REQUIRED BY MAN. 355 



of mind, compulsory labour, previous intemperate habits, and especially the 

 length of confinement. It has been supposed by some, that prisoners require 

 a fuller diet than persons at large ; this is probably erroneous : but more variety 

 is certainly desirable, to counteract, as far as possible, the depressing influence 

 of their condition upon the digestive powers. The circumstances which oc- 

 curred at the Mil Ibank Penitentiary in 1823, form a lamentable warning against 

 the reduction of the diet-scale to an insufficient amount. The allowance to 

 the prisoners had formerly been from 31 to 33 oz. of dry nutriment daily, and 

 the prison was considered healthy ; but in 1822, it was reduced to 21 oz. " The 

 health of the prisoners continued unbroken for nearly six months ; but scurvy 

 then showed itself unequivocally ; and out of 860 prisoners, 437, or 52 -per 

 cent, were affected with it. The effect of previous confinement here became 

 remarkable ; for those were chiefly attacked who had been in the prison for 

 two years, a year, or six months. Again, the prisoners employed in the 

 kitchen, who had 8 oz. of bread additional per day, were not attacked, except 

 three who had only been there a few days. After the epidemic had spread 

 to a great extent, it was found that the addition of 8 oz. to the daily allowance 

 of vegetable food, and oz. to the animal, facilitated the operation of the reme- 

 dies which were used for the restoration of the health of the prisoners. The 

 effects of confinement have been further shown in the experience of the Edin- 

 burgh 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 proneness to disease manifested itself in those 

 who had been residents there for a considerable time, and the diet was, there- 

 fore, 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. In a Convict-ship, which took out 433 

 prisoners to New Holland in 1802, the mortality was very trifling, and the 

 general health good ; although these prisoners were supported on 16 oz. of 

 vegetable food, and 7 5 oz. of animal food per day, a quantity which was 

 found to be perfectly sufficient for them. The aged inmates of work-houses, 

 especially those who have been accustomed to poor food during their whole 

 lives, require much less than this ; their vital functions being comparatively 

 inactive, and their amount of labour or exercise small. In the Edinburgh 

 work-house, of which the inmates have usually good health, they are fed upon 

 oatmeal-porridge morning and evening, with barley-broth at dinner; the total 

 allowance of dry nutriment is about 17 oz., namely, 13 oz. vegetable, and 4 

 oz. animal. It is a curious effect of insufficient nutriment, as shown by the 

 recent inquiries of Chossat,* that it produces an incapability of digesting even 

 the limited amount supplied. He found that, when turtle-doves were supplied' 

 with limited quantities of corn, but with water at discretion, the whole amount 

 of food taken was scarcely ever actually digested ; a part of it being rejected 

 by vomiting, or passing off by diarrhoea, or accumulating in the crops. It 

 seems as if the vital powers were not sufficient to furnish the requisite supply 

 of gastric fluid, when the body began to be enfeebled by insufficient nutrition ; 

 or perhaps we might well say, the materials of the gastric fluid were wanting. 

 Hence the loathing of food, often manifested by those who have been subjected 

 to the influence of an insufficient diet-scale in our prisons and poor-houses, 



* Recherches Experimentales sur 1'Inanition, 1843. 



