The philosophy of eating. By Albert J. Bellows, M.D.

STATE PRISON RATIONS.

115

By comparing the above bill of fare with the standard already given, it will be seen that the musclemaking elements are three fourths of an ounce below
the standard, while the carbonates are at least one
third too high. It should be considered that living in
a moderate and uniform temperature, and using only
moderate muscular exercise, neither nitrates nor carbonates need be above the average,- probably not
more than twenty ounces of carbonates are consumed:
all the remainder is cast off.as waste; and not being
the natural waste, tends to derange the stomach and
bowels, and clog and render dormant the whole system. The prisoners may be fat, and may look healthy,
and indeed may be, and should be, with their regular
habits, healthy, and the bill of mortality be much below
the average; but they cannot have much muscular or
mental energy.
By changing the first two articles on the bill, a
saving of more than one hundred dollars would be
made in a week, and a bill be made giving them more
agreeable food, and giving them more of the nitrates
and phosphates, and therefore more energy of mind and
muscle. Half the amount of unbolted wheat flour,
made from good wheat, would give more than the same
amount of nitrates, with about one pound less of carbonates, and the bread would be equally satisfactory;
and then half the amount of Southern corn (thirty
bushels) meal, made from the variety of corn represented by Fig. 3, would give more nitrates and more
phosphates than is obtained from sixty bushels of
Northern corn, and the bread would be lighter and