688 



NATURE 



[February 17, 19 16 



quantity amounts to 3,057,789 cwts., of which currants 

 make up one-third and raisins one-fifth. 



(7) Other Foods. — In this category are included 

 sugar, glucose, molasses, caramel, cocoa, chocolate, and 

 olive oil. The following are the quantities : — - 



The ''Food Values'' of the Supply. 

 When the food values — that is to say, the foodstuffs 

 and energy values — of the previous supplies are reckoned 

 out, it is found that for the year igo8 the population 

 of Great Britain (40,200,000) was provided with the 

 following amounts, of which the particulars are given 

 in Table I. : — 



Protein Carhohydran; Pat Entrgy v.ilue 



(lbs.) (lbs.) (Ihs ) (kilo-lilre calorie»)2 



2,419,166,767 14,17;, 125,523 3,231.594,600 44,S2&,29i,359 



and avoid duplication in allocating the supplies, it was 

 assumed that those engaged in agriculture, together 

 with their families, were self-provided with most of 

 the foods grown on the farms. Accordingly, the food- 

 stuffs and energy derived from the following list of 

 farm produce were distributed, not amongst the whole 

 population, but amongst those left after the agricul- 

 tural population had been deducted. This list in- 

 cluded : — (i) Vegetables (namely, potatoes, onions, 

 cabbage, root crops, green peas, and beans) ; (2) dairy 

 produce (namely, butter, cheese, milk, cream) and 

 ^??gs; (3) oatmeal and barley flour j (4) poultry, game, 

 and rabbits ; (5) certain fruits (namely, apples, pears, 

 plums, cherries, together with one-third of the small 

 fruit). 



The food values reckoned out for those articles and 

 divided amongst the balance of the population left, 

 after deducting for the agricultural population, are as 

 follows : — 



Fat Energy value 



(lbs) (kilo-litre calorie ) 



1,083,718,635 11,492,106,905 



Prot'in 

 (lbs.) 



Carbohydrate 

 (lbs.) 



(lbs.) (lbs.) 



728,697,739 2,835,356,188 



Table I. — The Foodstuffs and Energy Value of the Supplies. 



To obtain a proper conception of the adequacy of the 

 supplies, these totals have to be divided, not bv the 

 whole population, but by the man-value of the popu- 

 lation. It is obvious that children, according to age, 

 require varying quantities of food — that is to say, 

 different fractions of a man's ration. Likewise, women 

 consume less food as a rule than men. Standards 

 have therefore been fixed by which the food require- 

 ments of the women and children of a mixed popula- 

 tion, can be reduced to man values. Of these, the 

 standards given by Atwater are generally adopted, and 

 are so widely known that it is unnecessary to repeat 

 them here. They were followed, so far as the census 

 returns allow, in determining the man value of the 

 population of Great Britain, for the purpose of this 

 survey, except in one particular. Atwater does not 

 begin to give a full man's ration to boys or a full 

 woman's ration (o-S of a man's) until the age of 

 seventeen is passed. In the computation here made, 

 full rations were allocated to all above the age of 

 fifteen. On this basis the population of Great Britain 

 in iqoS corresponded to 30,955,000 men. But this 

 number had to be further subdivided. 



In the returns of agricultural produce, as already 

 stated, no account is taken of farm produce consumed 

 by the agricultural population. To meet this difficulty 



2 The ordinary calorie U'cd for exp ess'n? ihe rnerey value of a food 

 lepn serts ihe heat required to raise a litre of i< atT from 15° to 16° C. This 

 proved an inconveniently small unit for expressing values of the magnitude 

 of a nation's food .'upplv. ArcorHingly a unit 1000 iim>^s as great, and called 

 here the kilo-litre ca'orie, is U'ed fortSe most p:.rt throughoiit. 



■' Eggs, margarine, laid and imitation lard are here included in this group. 



The remaining quantities were distributed amongst 

 the whole population per man. These are : — 



'Protein Caibohydrate Fat Energy value 



(lbs.) Obs.) (lb<.) (kilo-litre calories) 



1,690,469,028 11,339,769,322 2,147,875,965 33,334,184.454 



This mode of distribution — at best an approximation, 

 but the most accurate at present available — involved 

 a calculation of the agricultural population, and then 

 its reduction to man value. Various estimates of the 

 agricultural population have been made, some of 

 which the writer considers excessive. An independent 

 one, made for this survey, and based mainly on the 

 census returns, placed the number in 1908 at 5,304,691, 

 with a man value of 4,260,000. Deducting the latter 

 figure from the total man value of the population— 

 30,955,000— leaves a general population of 26,695,000. 



A computation on these lines gives the following 

 ration per man per day, for the population of Great 

 Britain : — 



En'rjy 



(a) Agricultural supplies 

 (1^) General supplies ... 



Total 101-70 5*^712 136-50 4, 



The Daily Ration in Terms of Food. 

 The actual sources from which the foregoing 

 stuffs and energy are derived are shown below. 



NO. 2416, VOL. 96] 



