MISCELLANEA. 
I. The Statistical Study of Dietaries, a reply to 
Professor Karl Pearson. 
By Professor D. NOEL PATON, F.R.S. 
Professor Pearson's criticism of Miss Lindsay's Study of the Diets of the Labouring 
Classes in the City of Glasgow {Biometrika, Vol. ix. Oct. 1913) is a good example of the 
danger of one who does not understand the jjroblems involved and who is ignorant of the 
work already done upon a subject attempting to discredit the results of an investigation by 
the application of mathematics aecoi'ding to In's own fixncy and in, what seems to me, a 
totally illegitimate maimer. 
Not appreciating the questions which were under investigation, he starts his criticism by 
demanding that our studies should afford a solution of problems other than those we had 
before us, and, because he does not find the solution of these problems, he proceeds to abuse 
the work. 
Apparently in his opinion the object of the studies should have been to determine what 
efifect the diets which the families were taking at the time of the study had upon the 
physique of the various individuals. He states that, if adequate anthropometric observations 
had been secured in such a study, it would have l:)een at once possible to co-relate these 
with the diets. It is unnecessary to point (jut, as was pointed out in the Report, that the 
physique is determined by the whole previous condition of life and by the influence of 
heredity, and that it is absurd to attempt to relate it solely to the diet (Report, pp. 3 and 4). 
The objects of the studies are quite clearly stated on p. 4 of the Report : "Do the 
working classes of this city get such a diet as will enable them to develop into strong, 
healthy, energetic men, and, as men, will enable them to do a strenuous day's work ; or are 
the conditions of the labouring classes such that a suitable diet is not obtainable ? Further, 
if a suitable diet is oljtainablo, and is obtained, is it procured, or can it be procured, at a 
cost low enough to leave a margin sufficient to cover the other necessary expenses of the 
family life, with something over for those pleasures and amenities without which the very 
continuance of life is of doubtful value 1 " 
It was accepted as proved by previous work that for the labouring classes : " If a fiimily 
diet gives a yield of energy of less than 3500 Calories per man per day it is insufficient 
for active work, and if less than 3000 it is quite inadequate for the proper maintenance of 
growth and normal activity." 
The first qiiestion investigated was : " Did the families examined receive this supply of 
energy ? " As regards the poorest classes this was answered in the negative. The validity of 
this conclusion has not been challenged by Professor Pearson, 
Biometrika x 22 
