PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



235 



RATIONS AT LADYSMITH DURING THE 

 SIEGE. 



One of the great hardships of the siege 

 of Ladysmith was a shortage of food. The 

 supplies of crackers or biscuits, canned 

 goods, etc., were sufficient only for limited 

 rations, and there was a great lack of green 

 vegetables. These might have been grown 

 to a considerable extent, it is said, if the 

 length of the siege had been foreseen. 



Horses and mules were killed and eaten. 

 While the eating of horse flesh is not con- 

 sidered a hardship in many regions of 

 Europe, the Anglo-Saxon race has never 

 accepted it as an article of diet. At Lady- 

 smith mule flesh is said to have been con- 

 sidered more palatable than^ horse flesh. 



Dr. J. C. Dunlop, of Edinburgh, makes 

 some interesting statements in the British 

 Medical Journal regarding the food value 

 of the daily ration issued at Ladysmith. 

 This consisted of 16 ounces meat, 4 ounces 

 biscuit (crackers), 3 ounces meal, 1 ounce 

 sugar, 34 ounce tea, and a pinch of condi- 

 ments. According to Dr. Dunlop's calcu- 

 lation this ration would furnish 73.4 grams 

 protein, 69.7 grams fat, 141.6 grams car- 

 bohydrates, and would have a fuel value of 

 1,527 calories. The Ladysmith ration was 

 compared with other diets and dietary 

 standards, the protein and energy alone 

 being considered, since these factors repre- 

 sent in the simplest way the functions of 

 any given diet, namely, to build and repair 

 body tissue, and supply energy for heat 

 and muscular work. 



Comparison of Ladysmith Rations with 

 Other Diets and Dietary Standards. 



Fuel 



Value. 



Protein. Cal- 



grams. ories. 



Ladysmith ration 73.4 1527 



Atwater's standard (moder- 

 ate work) 125.0 3500 



Voit's standard (moderate 



work) 1 18.0 3055 



A convict's food (moderate 



work) 169.0 3700 



A prisoner's food (light 



work) 134.0 3100 



A poorhouse diet (no work). 83.5 1871 

 A poorhouse diet (work) .. .113.0 2381 



IA comparison of the Ladysmith ration 

 with other dietaries and dietary standards 

 Dr. Dunlop says, "Tells a sad tale of seri- 

 ous underfeeding, or, in other words, of 

 partial starvation. It may be noted that the 

 food value of the Ladysmith rations only 

 amounts to half what the older authorities 

 put down as the normal diet (see Voit's 

 standard) and to only about 40 per cent, of 

 the more modern standard (Atwater's). 

 The comparison between Ladysmith ra- 



shows them to be of far less food value 

 than the food of a prisoner, and of even 

 less food value than the food of our un- 

 derfed paupers. 



"These figures and comparisons give 

 some conception of one of the hardships of 

 a siege, and if when considering them one 

 remembers that this deplorably short feed- 

 ing was combined with fairly hard work, 

 one can only express surprise at our gal- 

 lant soldiers being able to continue such a 

 struggle, and great admiration of their suc- 

 cess in so doing." 



FOOD VALUE OF CHESTNUTS. 



In Southern Europe the large Spanish or 

 Italian chestnut is a staple article of diet. 

 The common way of preparing the shelled 

 nuts is to steam them, when they may be 

 eaten either with salt or milk. Thus cooked 

 they furnish a cheap and nutritious food. 

 The hot nuts are sold in the streets and 

 form the chief morning dish for a large 

 proportion of the working classes. Large 

 quantities of the nuts are also dried and 

 ground to a flour, which can be kept for 

 some time without deteriorating. This 

 flour, mixed with water and baked in thin 

 sheets, forms a heavy but sweet and nu- 

 tritious cake. The use of chestnuts is not 

 confined to the poor, since they are used in 

 many forms by the well-to-do, who pre- 

 pare from them many palatable dishes. 



In Southern Germany the fresh and dried 

 nuts are cooked in a variety of ways. They 

 are, perhaps, most often used for stuffing 

 poultry and for making a sort of meringue. 



In Italy the use of the chestnut is 

 also general. The nut is eaten fresh, 

 boiled, and roasted, or as a substitute for 

 corn meal in the polenta, a form of por- 

 ridge, much used by the poorer people. 

 A common delicacy in the Apennines is 

 need, flat cakes of chestnut flour and water, 

 baked between hot, flat stones, with chest- 

 nut leaves between the cakes. In Korea 

 the chestnut is said almost to take the place 

 which the potato occupies with us, being 

 used raw, boiled, roasted, cooked with 

 meat, or dried whole. 



In addition to the uses noted above, the 

 following dishes, more or less well known 

 in this country, may be mentioned: Chest- 

 nut soup, puree, chestnut stuffing for tur- 

 key and other fowls, chestnut gravy, chest- 

 nuts and spinach, and a number of desserts, 

 including puree with cream, chestnuts 

 cooked in a sirup and served with cream, 

 pain de marrons, parfait of chestnuts (a 

 kind of ice cream) and cakes thickly cov- 

 ered with a sort of chestnut icing or cream. 

 The candied chestnuts, or marron glace, of 

 the confectioners are well known. Indeed, 

 the most common uses of chestnuts in this 

 country are probably for making marron 

 glace and the stuffing for fowls, and for 



