46 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
Milk, although increased in price, was more in demand in November 
than during the second study. This is probably due to the improved 
income of most of the families. At both periods, however, the consumption 
was low, especially as the majority of the persons on the diet were children 
and therefore requiring more milk than adults. The total number of 
persons in the eight families was 57, and 30 of the 46 children included 
were under ten years of age. The average amount of milk consumed per 
“head” per week was only 670 c.c., or about 1T7 pints, or 3'4 ozs. per 
day during the February studies, and 894 c.c., or about T56 pints, in 
November, i.e. 4 - 4 ozs. per day. 
M. 62 was much above the average in milk consumption, as the youngest 
child was largely fed on milk. The amount used by H. 47 was very low, 
as the baby was entirely breast-fed, and as the next youngest child was four 
years old. The amount of milk used by different families and by the same 
family at different times depends greatly on whether the family includes 
an infant on a milk diet. 
Potatoes . — The most marked difference between the February and 
November diets was the increased consumption of potatoes in the latter. 
In February potatoes were scarce and of poor quality, and the price was 
excessive, 2s. 2d. per stone. In November the price was halved, and the 
supply was abundant, and the average amount consumed was nearly five 
times as great as in February. This increased amount of potatoes used 
gave an average gain of 239 Calories per man per day in the diets. The 
small energy value of the family S. 84 is correlated with a small consump- 
tion both of potatoes and of flour. On an average, the increased consump- 
tion of potatoes has not been accompanied by a decreased consumption 
of flour. 
The third studies were carried out before there was the present scarcity 
of butter, margarine, and meat, and thus, except in the case of sugar and 
jam, they represent the unrestricted choice of food, limited always by the 
question of expense. 
The investigations show that between February and November 1917 
these families had made practically no change in the amount of bread, 
meat, and sugar consumed. 
In the British Medical Journal of 24th February 1917 attention was 
drawn to the impossibility of the labouring man’s wife adopting the 
Devonport ration, and the above results show that the families studied 
either made no effort or were not able to restrict their consumption of 
bread stuffs. This is probably true in the case of most of the working 
class, which constitutes by far the greater part of the population. But 
