920 FOOD OF THE LABOURING CLASSES 



Irish peasantry, who live on 8lbs. of potatoes a 

 day, are superior in size, strength, and activity, 

 to those of England, where the proportion of 

 beef and mutton consumed is three times greater 

 than in France, four times greater than in Prus- 

 sia, five times greater than in Austria, and six 

 times greater than in Italy or Spain. The pea- 

 santry of Scotland, who live chiefly on oatmeal 

 and potatoes, with milk,* and just meat enough 

 to flavour their vegetable broth, are superior 

 in health, strength, and longevity, to the north 

 American Indians, or to any other race of men 

 in the world, who subsist on animal food alone. 

 It is also well known, that in almost every coun- 

 try in Europe, above half the population is sup- 

 ported chiefly on bread, milk, potatoes, and other 

 vegetables, with a little butter and fat, which 



* I am credibly informed, that the children of the wealthier 

 classes in Scotland are fed chiefly on oatmeal porridge and 

 milk, until the age of puberty. But the solid portions of cow's 

 milk, when deprived of water, does not contain above 4 per 

 cent, of nitrogen, and human milk not much over half that 

 proportion ; so that it approximates the composition of fari- 

 naceous food, the starch of the latter being replaced by oil 

 and sugar. But according to the new theory, skimmed milk 

 ought to afford more nourishment than new milk, because the 

 ratio of nitrogen is larger in a given weight of the former, for the 

 cream is supposed not to be convertible into blood. And if 

 1 Ib. of lean meat deprived of water, contain 17 per cent, of 

 nitrogen, it ought to afford as much nourishment as 4| Ibs. of the 

 solid parts of milk, which contain only 4 per cent, of that ele- 

 ment. Such are the conclusions to which we are inevitably brought 

 by adopting the premises of Liebig. 



