The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1858-07-01

wa AANA DO hNoAf mar AAbaHAf
boiled, 4 Al
Bread and bread dust, 21I
10 81
To this must he added one and a quar-
ter pints Of rich gravy-soup, three wine
glasses Of raw spirits, one tumber Of
strong grog, and one gallon one pint of
water. Captain Cochrane, in his Jour
noy through Russia and Siberian Tarta-
ry, relates that the Admiral Sartichcf
was informed that one Of the Yakud ate
in four and twenty hours the hind quar-
ter of large OK, twenty pounds Of fat,
and proportOnate quantity Of melted
butter for his drink To test the truth
Of this statement, the Admiral gave him
thick porridge of rice boiled down
with three pounds of butter, weighing
together twenty-eight pounds and al
though the glutton had already break
TASTED, he sat down to it with great Gag
erness, and consumed the whole without
stirring from the spot. Captain Coch-
rane also states that he has seen three
Yakutis devour a reindeer at a meal;
and a calf, Weighing about two hundred
pounds, is not too much for a meal of
FIVE of these guttons.#
These facts are curious, but of course
/ they throw no light on the question,
how much food an individual requires
to keep himself alive and active. Nor,
indeed, has any method yet been devised
which could elucidate that point. We
can never feel confident that the quanti-
ty taken is not somewhat more, or some
what less, than would be advantageous.
If a man is active on six pounds daily,
he might be perhaps stronger on six
and a half; and if six and half should
prove the precise amount that kept his
weight unaltered, it would only do so
under precisely similar conditions, and
we know that on different days he will
waste different quantities.
Some caterpilIars daily eat double
their weight in food; o cow eats 4G lbs
daily; and a mouse cats eight times as
much in proportion to its own weight
as is eaten by man. But when such
facts are cited, we must bear in mind
the enormous differences in the nature
of the foods thus weighed, their relative
amounts of water, and indigcstible ma
terial. The same caution is requisite
in speaking of mems diet. 1t has been
variously computed Sanctorious esti
mated it at lbs. Rye lbs. and Z lbs.
Horne at lbs. and Valentin in his own
person at 6 lbs. Such estimates we're
too contradictory to afford any clue
The chemists bethought them Of secur-
ing the requisite precision by taking the
amount Of carbonic acid expelled du-
ring the twenty-four hours as the stand
ard Of the amount Of carbon necessary,
and the amount of urea expelled in the
same period, as the standard Of nitrogen
necessary. Tables were then drawn up,
setting forth the separate items Of food
requisite to supply this waste. But,
apart from the profound distrust with
which such chemical rcasonings should
be regarded, there is this separate source
of distrust, that each man necessarily
wastes different quantities under differ
ent conditions; it, therefore, our analy-
sis Of food correctly represented the
amounts of carbon and nitrogen assimi-
lated (Which it does not,) we should still
have to construct a special table for each
individual at each season of the year,
and under varying conditions,
The question is really one Of impor-
tance, when we have to apportion the ra-
tions Of paupers, prisoners, soldiers aud
sailors. Here we are forced to strike an
average, though we know that on any
average one man will necessarily have
more, and another less, than is absolute,
" requisite; but the impossibility of ar
ranging matters otherwise, unless food
be so abundant that it may be left to the
discretion Of each to eat whatever amonnt
he pleases, forces the adoption Of some
t standard which experience rectifes on
, the whole. DR.. Pereira has furnished
several dotaries adopted for masses Of
men, and from these the following is Ia,
ken:
The scale of diet in the Royal Navy
is thus given in the Regulations:
"There shall be allowed to every per
son the following quantities Of proyis