THE SANITARY CARE OP THE SOLDIER. 
445 
provided. In tlie squadron of Lancers, the messing stoppage is under 
3Jd., and the meals are excellent. In the detachment of the Medical 
Staff Corps under my command, the messing stoppage is rather under 
3|d. than over it, and arrangements are made by which the detach¬ 
ment, and also the hospital inmates on convalescent diet, have not only 
a sufficient dinner, but also a good soup meal at 8 p.m. This is not a 
station where any extraordinary attention is paid to the subject. I 
know things might be better managed, here as elsewhere, but account 
must be taken of the caprices of the men, of the inherent low faculty 
of cookery in the English race; here as elsewhere, the devil sends 
cooks, and if angels came to take their places they, too, would soon 
degenerate, in barracks as on board ship, to the level of the tastes of 
those they cater for. But yet, what are the results ? It happens that 
I keep a record of the weight of every recruit on his joining the Sub- 
Depot and on his being drafted off to Portsmouth. Here are the 
recorded weights of the 120 recruits who have left from January to 
April, after a stay here of about six weeks, more or less :— 
7=6 per cent, have fallen off (J, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7 lb.) 
6=5 ,, have neither lost nor gained. 
107 = 89 ,, have gained from 1 to 22 lb. in weight. 
Of these 107 who have gained, 41 have gained 7 lb. and upwards, 
while six of them have gained 14 to 22 lb. In the seven who had 
fallen off, the loss could always be accounted for, illness, intemperance, 
age much above the 24 years and 10 months that figured in the attes¬ 
tation, or a bloated barman fined down by a healthier life. 
It may be objected that the recruits buy extra food. I will, there¬ 
fore, take the case of the boys, who, getting no pay to speak of, cannot 
buy extra food. There are upwards of 20 of them, between 15 and 
17 years of age. I found, soon after taking charge of this station, 
nearly three years ago, that these boys were nearly all under the R.A. 
standard of their ages. I had them put at gymnastics, as well as 
trumpeting and schooling, and I measured them every three months at 
least; the consequence was that they improved rapidly, the newcomers, 
too often much under standard, soon attained it, and this improvement 
in physique was accompanied by such a development of high spirit as 
to require special attention to the maintenance of good order. The 
improvement being due, not to more food, but to exercises that develop 
the appetite for food, it is evident that their rations are amply sufficient. 
And conversely this is proved by the fact that when they are weighed 
at the end of January, on their return from their Christmas holidays at 
home, they are, almost without exception, found to have fallen off. 
But the loss is soon made up, and I warrant that every one of these 
boys will have full weight and chest measurement when he is 18. A 
lad went off last week, on being posted to a company; he had gained 
in the last twelvemonths 3f inches height, 3 inches chest, 33 lb. weight. 
I measured another this morning, on transfer. He has gained in the 
last 16 months, since his arrival here as a very undersized boy, 3^ inches 
height, 3 inches chest, 171b. weight. Both lads are a little over 15. 
The average annual gain of all the boys is 16 lb. weight and 2J inches 
chest measurement. 
