108 REPORT— 1864. 



simply by lessening- the amount of the kinds of food usually taken ; and as the re- 

 duction is more slowly effected, it is a process attended by less danger to the 

 health. 



It may not be doubted that in proportion as the system is extensively adopted, 

 and, in a given case, is worked out rapidly, so will be the prevalence of heart- 

 diseases, derangement of digestion, and gout. Seeds are now sown which will 

 yield a plentiful harvest to medical men. 



To turn now to the dietary of om* labouring population. An inquiry of a 

 character unique, at least in extent, has just been completed by me for the 

 Government, which will afford a clearer insight than has hitherto been obtained 

 into the dietary of our labouring populations, and will enable us to appreciate 

 both its merits and defects. It has been made at the homes of the agricultural 

 labourers in every county in England, in Wales, in the west and north of Ireland, 

 and in the west and south of Scotland ; at the homes of certain town populations, 

 as silk- and cotton-weavers, seamstresses, kid-glovers, shoemakers, and stocking- 

 weavers, with all the care and minuteness which science could suggest ; and with- 

 out burdening this address with the details, which may be found in the Sixth 

 Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council, I may describe the results 

 imder the two general heads of the quantity of food and nutriment, and the nature 

 of each class of food. 



In doing this I must beg of you to bear with quotations of figures to an extent 

 greater, perhaps, than I shoidd think appropriate to an address of this nature. 



I will now ofier some observations upon the separate classes of foods akeady re- 

 ferred to. 



1st, Brcaclstvffs. — The coarse kinds of bread which were in ordinary use by our 

 forefathers, even to the early part of the present century, are now very rarely eaten. 

 Barley bread is still used in the houses of labourers in South "N^^ales, and in the 

 farmhouses of North aud South Wales and Anglesea ; also by the labourers in 

 Northumberland in the north, and in Cornwall and Devon in the south of England, 

 and in the southern parts of Scotland ; but, except in certain poor districts in 

 South Wales, it is not anywhere now used as a principal member of the class of 

 breadstuffs. In nearly every locality it is now mixed with rye-meal, or with 

 various proportions of wheaten flour. Rye bread is nowhere eaten alone, but 

 the meal is mixed with barley meal ; and in the north of England rye is grown with 

 wheat in the field, or the gi'ains are subsequently mixed together in the proportion 

 of 1 part of rye and 3 parts of wheat, and Imown as marlin. It is also added in 

 small proportions to brown wheat meal in London to give a moist condition to the 

 bread. Oatmeal is used by 20 per cent, of the farm labourers in England ; but only 

 in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland is it eaten as a breadstuff, 

 and there it is not a principal member of the class. In the west of Scotland it is 

 still the principal breadstuff, and in the south it is extensively but not so exclu- 

 sively eaten — ^Ijarley meal and wheaten flour being also used. It is now more 

 largely eaten in the north and west of Ireland than was formerly the case, being 

 preferred to Indian corn, aud occupying a middle position between that aud wheaten 

 flour. Indian corn is eaten exclusively in the south and west of Ireland, where 

 exceeding poverty is an incubus upon the people, and is eaten alone or with the 

 addition of oatmeal. Pea meal is never eaten alone as bread, but in the north of 

 Scotland it is sometimes added to oatmeal for that purpose. Wheaten Jlovr is now 

 exclusively used to make bread for all the town popidations, and in nearly every dis- 

 trict of England for the farm-labouring populations, and, with the exception of the 

 Western Highlands of Scotland, the south and west of Ireland, and certain portions 

 of South Wales, is universally the principal breadstuff' obtained by the population. 

 The abundant supply, the fine quality, and the low price of it of late years have 

 even induced the poor to discard the tise of the bro-«Ti wheaten meal which was 

 so commonly eaten when I was a J'outh, and nowhere now is brown or whole- 

 grained wheaten flom* the ordinary breadstufi" of even single families, much less of 

 small communities. In all the inquiries throughout England I found but one or 

 two families who commonly purchased it. 



This is a strildng change" in the habits of the people, and we may well ask -what 

 is the reason for the exclusion of the low-priced breadstuffs, and the universal use of 



