Oct. 17, 188-1.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



J23 



PRACTICAL DIETETICS. 



[C0MMr>-ICATED.] 



SOME time ago I promised some tables, the result of practical 

 experiment, as opposed to the theory of foods. The following 

 tables are taken from the XXVI volame of the Jonmal of the 

 Statistical Society, article "Dr. Guy on Dietaries." 



** A series of eight experiments were made, consisting of six (the 

 first three and last three) on groups of ten prisoners variously con- 

 stituted of men and women at different ages, and of boys and girls 

 about 13 or 14 years of age ; and of two larger groups of 21 

 and 20 respectively, of which the greater number were adult males. 

 The particulars of the eight dietaries, with the average weights of 

 the prisoners at the end of the month (each dietary being continued 

 for that period) are given in the table annexed : — 



at Millbank. The facts are given on the authority of the Governor 

 of the Devizes House of Correction. The dietary consisted of — 



Bread 196 onnces per week. 



Potatoes 112 „ „ 



Total solid food 308, and gruel 7 pints. 



On two days in the week, a vegetable soup was substituted for the 

 potatoes ; but there was no meat whatever in this dietary, and no 

 milk, or other animal matter. Nevertheless, the governor was able 

 to report that this dietary agreed well with the prisoners, that no 

 loss of strength was noticed, and that no prison could be more 

 healthy. And he added, ' There is not now, nor has there been, 

 any " case of scurvy." ' It should also be observed that this exclu- 

 sively vegetable diet, having been adopted in an English prison 

 must have been strange to most of the inmates, who, before they 



Experiments at Glasgow Bridewell 1840. 



I 



* Containing to the quart 4 oz. of barley and 1 oz. of bone, with vegetables. 



" Now, though the groups of prisoners are small and variously con- 

 stituted, and the experiments consequently wanting in scientific 

 exactness, some of the results are worth noting, as throwing light 

 upon the value of these weighings as used as tests of a sufficient 

 dietary. Between the first and third experiments, for instance, there 

 is this difference only, that the potatoes are boiled in the one and 

 baked in the other ; but while the ten prisoners in the one experi- 

 ment gain on an average 41b., the same number in the other 

 experiment lose, on an average, lilb.* Again, though the substitu- 

 tion in the second experiment of 1^ pints of skimmed milk of 

 lOJ pints of buttermilk in the first leaves the average gain of 41b. 

 unaltered, the restoration of the lOi pints of buttermilk in the 

 third experiment is followed by an average loss of lilb., in lieu 

 of an average gain of 4 lb. It is also worthy of remark that, while 

 the four dietaries which are followed by a considerable average 

 gain are all vegetable diets, and one of them consists of 61b. of 

 potatoes daily, two out of four dietaries which show a loss of 

 weight contain a liberal element of meat. Lastly, it may be 

 observed that, while the eighth dietary, consisting wholly of 

 potatoes, shows an average gain of 3^ lb., the seventh dietary, 

 the only one from which the potato is wholly omitted, shows an 

 average loss of less than half a pound." »*«»*** 



** Hitherto I have been dealing with mixed dietaries, several of 

 which contain meat in some form or other, and the experiments at 

 Pentonville were with dietaries of which meat formed a part ; but 

 I must now ask the attention of the society to dietaries from which 

 meat has been wholly excluded, and to three dietaries especially 

 which contain no animal food whatever. The first of these exclu- 

 sively vegetable dietaries is very interesting, inasmuch as it is a 

 prison diet on which prisoners were fed for long periods, and 

 weighed at the beginning and end of their sentences. The history 

 of this dietary and of its effects on the health of the prisoners and 

 on their weight will be found in the Report of 1823 on the epidemic 



* W. Mattieu Williams please make a note of. 



became prisoners, had doubtless been able to procure more or less 

 of animal food and of meat. The prisoners had been kept on this 

 diet from various periods up to eighteen months — many of them 

 for six months and more ; 292 prisoners, in various groups, were 

 weighed on entering and on leaving prison. Of thirty-eight 

 prisoners thus weighed, after periods varying from two weeks to 

 six months, twenty-seven were found to have gained, two to have 

 lost, and nine to have neither gained nor lost. The average gain 

 in weight was 3 lb. Two other prisoners, after eighteen months, 

 had gained, on an average, 6 lb. ; and twenty prisoners, confined for 

 twelve months, had gained, at the end of that period, 5 lb., on the 

 average. Four other groups of prisoners, confined during six 

 months, three mouths, two months, and one month, respectively, 

 gained, on an average, 3 lb., 3 lb.. 2 lb., and 2 lb. 



Here, then, we have in favour of a bread, potato, and gruel diet 

 the most conclusive evidence. There was no loss of strength, an 

 excellent state of health, no scurvy, and a most satisfactory addi- 

 tion to the weight of the prisoners. It should also be observed that 

 there were among the prisoners several whose terms of imprison- 

 ment were sufficiently long to severely test any dietary. 



Dr. Baly, in his paper in the London Medical Gazette, to which I 

 have already had occasion to refer, gives an example of the same 

 kind. It is that of the Stafford County Gaol, in which the weekly 

 allowance of food consisted of : — 



Bread 196oz. 



Potatoes 112oz. 



Total 308oz. 



with twenty-one pints of gruel, but no meat and no soup, and yet 

 scurvy did not occur, its absence being verified by his own inspec- 

 tion of seventy prisoners confined in that gaol for periods of from 

 three to six months. 



In this case also a diet consisting wholly of vegetable food must 

 have been new to the prisoners. 



The third example of an exclusive vegetable diet is afforded by 



