504 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1221 



recommending a radical reduction in the 

 amount of meat in the ration. First of all 

 is the fact that meat stimulates heat pro- 

 duction in the 'body more than any other 

 food stuff, and therefore assists in keeping 

 the body warm in severe weather. There 

 is some evidence that for a quick delivery 

 of maximum energy, such as may be neces- 

 sary in getting ' ' over the top, ' ' a high pro- 

 tein diet is necessary. We certainly desire 

 that the American soldier shall have plenty 

 of "punch" to his fight, and if a high pro- 

 tein diet will insure this punch, nobody, I 

 am sure, will grudge him all the meat he 

 feels like eating. 



United States rations, both for ordinary en- 

 campment training and for field uses. The 

 British field ration is the ration used in the 

 training camps in France. "When the men 

 go into the trenches or engage in active 

 operations, this is supplemented by the ad- 

 dition of pea soup, butter and sugar 

 amounting to 300-500 calories. The Cana- 

 dian diet No. 40 is taken from an actual 

 weekly diet sheet as used in the Canadian 

 training camps in England last September. 

 The French normal ration is the training 

 ration, the reserve ration corresponds very 

 closely to our own reserve ration and their 

 strong ration is their campaign ration. 



TABLE n 



Comparison of Allies' Bations 



Total Protein 



Fuel Value 



Protein Fat 



Cal. 



Cal. 



Cal. 



Distribution 



British Field 



British Field and Trench 

 Canadian, Oct. 1, 1917. . 

 Canadian Diet No. 40. . . 



French, Normal 



French, Reserve 



French, Strong 



Italian Combating 



Italian Territoriali 



U. S. Garrison 



U. S. Garrison. Modified 

 Average, 87 messes 



1,461 

 1,893 

 1,860 

 622 

 1,261 

 1,091 

 1,362 

 1,366 

 1,116 

 1,935 

 1,803 

 1,940 



143 

 144 

 151 

 132 

 141 

 112 

 152 

 142 

 94 

 175 

 166 

 139 



154 

 174 

 182 

 127 

 89 

 114 

 97 

 67 

 50 

 125 

 178 

 130 



440 

 463 

 460 

 363 

 467 

 385 

 509 

 519 

 415 

 671 

 657 

 536 



586 

 590 

 619 

 541 

 578 

 460 

 623 

 582 

 385 

 718 

 681 

 570 



1,432 



1,618 



1,693 



1,181 



828 



1,063 



902 



623 



465 



1,163 



1,655 



1,209 



1,804 

 1,898 

 1,886 

 1,488 

 1,915 

 1,580 

 2,087 

 2,128 

 1,701 

 2.751 

 2,694 

 2,198 



3,822 

 4,106 

 4,198 

 3,210 

 3,321 

 3,103 

 3,612 

 3,333 

 2,.551 

 4,632 

 4,809 

 3,997 



15.3 



14.3 

 14.7 

 16.9 

 17.4 

 14.8 

 17.2 

 17.5 

 15.1 

 15.5 

 13.5 

 14.3 



37.5 

 39.4 

 40.3 

 36.S 

 24.9 

 34.3 

 25.0 

 18.7 

 18.2 

 25.1 

 32.9 

 30.4 



47.2 

 46.3 

 45.0 

 46.3 

 57.7 

 50.9 

 57.8 

 63.8 

 66.7 

 59.4 

 53.6 

 55.3 



Other armies are getting along on less 

 meat than allowed by the government to 

 our army. The British army allows 1 

 pound per man per day, the French army 

 I pound, the Italian army only ^ pound. 

 Our allowance, you will remember, is 1^ 

 pounds, but the actual consumption by our 

 army up to the present time in the camps 

 in this country does not exceed | pound. 

 It would therefore seem that f pound of 

 meat provides a sufficiency of protein of 

 this class. 



Table II. exhibits a comparison of the 

 British, Canadian, French, Italian and 



Corresponding rations for the Italian army 

 are the territorial and combating rations. 

 The United States garrison ration as laid 

 down by the regulations, provides as shown 

 here 4,632 calories per man per day. 

 When, however, this ration is made the 

 basis of money allowance, certain substi- 

 tutes are made, for example, 30 per cent, of 

 meat is issued as bacon, 20 per cent, of the 

 allowance for potatoes is issued as onions, 

 and 10 per cent, as tomatoes. With these 

 substitutes made throughout, the garrison 

 ration, "modified" as we call it, provides 

 4,809 calories. Now, the average con- 



