A NORMAL DIET 361 



tion of many in the United States in the spring of 1916. In this year our 

 potato crop fell far below the normal, with the result that scurvy appeared 

 in various parts of the United States, especially in institutions." 



Short of actual famine and the acute distress and suffering due to 

 occasional crop failures, the development of man may be hampered by 

 chronically insufficient or improper food. The case of the RockyMountain 

 Indians has already been mentioned. Ripley regards the low stature and 

 poor physical condition of the natives of the Auvergne plateau in southern 

 France as due to the impossibility of obtaining an adequate diet from 

 the soil of that region. Removed from the district while young, the chil- 

 dren develop normally. 1 The peasants of the Abruzzi seem to furnish an- 

 other illustration of the damaging effect of an unsatisfactory diet upon a 

 whole people. These peasants are amongst the shortest in Italy but when 

 the young men enter the army and receive a more adequate diet, they grow 

 rapidly and this growth is greater than for any others except the men from 

 a few districts in which a similarly unsatisfactory diet is employed. (Al- 

 bertoni and Rossi(&), 1908; Lichtenfelt, 1912, page 34.) The damaging 

 effects of malnutrition in cities have been much discussed. While these 

 are generally considered to be occasional, rather than general, there is some 

 evidence that they may affect a very considerable proportion of the popula- 

 tion and may, indeed, alter the physical characteristics thereof. Thus, 

 Collis and Greenwood regard it as likely that the short stature of the cot- 

 ton operatives in Lancaster is due to a deficient diet. The nature of some 

 of these supposedly unsatisfactory diets and the criteria of their inadequacy 

 will be discussed later. 



Definition of "Normal." It is obvious that in any given country 

 and at any given period, the people living there and then must regard 

 their diet as the normal. It is the "usual, common or ordinary" as the 

 dictionary defines "normal." But to the physician, physiologist or hy- 

 gienist the word "normal" relates to good health and the "usual, common 

 or ordinary" is employed only as a means of ascertaining what is to be 

 considered healthy. A normal diet must be capable of maintaining man 

 in good health and our conception of a normal diet will become more 

 definite with increasing knowledge of what is to be considered good health 

 and of the relation between diet and health. It may, then, fairly be ques- 

 tioned if the "usual, common or ordinary" diet, as it obtains to-day, even 

 amongst those most free to chose is really a "normal" diet. 



In this chapter an attempt will be made to discuss the subject from 

 both points of view. The nature and amount of the food materials made 

 use of by civilized man in different parts of the world will first be con- 

 sidered. Then the results of more detailed studies upon the diet of groups 

 and of individuals in different climates, engaged in different occupations 

 and of different economic status will be presented. An attempt will be 

 1 Ripley gives Collignon as his authority. I have not been able to find the original. 



