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 with more commiseration, and a larger amount of outdoor relief is given than in England. There is no casual ward, tramps and beggars being liable to penal treatment, but there are “relief stations,” somewhat corresponding to casual wards, where destitute persons tramping from one place to another can obtain food and lodging in return for work done.

In the British navy certain staple articles of diet are supplied to the men to the value approximately of 6d. per diem—the standard government ration—and, in addition, a messing allowance of 4d. per diem, which may either be expended on luxuries in the canteen, or in taking up government provisions on board ship, in addition to the standard ration. The standard ration as recommended in 1907 by a committee appointed to inquire into the question of victualling in the navy is as follows:—

Service Afloat.

1 ℔ bread (or ℔ bread and  ℔ trade flour). ℔ fresh meat. 1 ℔ fresh vegetables. pint spirit. 4 oz. sugar. oz. tea (or 1 oz. coffee for every oz. tea). oz. ordinary or soluble chocolate (or 1 oz. coffee). oz. condensed milk. 1 oz. jam or marmalade. 4 oz. preserved meat on one day of the week in harbour, or on two days at sea. Mustard, pepper, vinegar, and salt as required.

Substitute for soft bread when the latter is not available— ℔ biscuit (new type) or 1 ℔ flour.

Substitutes for fresh meat when the latter is not available:—

On shore establishments and depot ships pt. fresh milk is issued in lieu of the  oz. of condensed milk.

In the United States navy there is more liberality and variety of diet, the approximate daily cost of the rations supplied being 1s. 3d. per head. In the American mercantile marine, too, according to the scale sanctioned by act of Congress (December 21, 1898) for American ships, the seaman is better off than in the British merchant service. The scale is shown in Table III.

In the British mercantile marine there is no scale of provisions prescribed by the Board of Trade; there is, however, a traditional scale very generally adopted, having the sanction of custom only and seldom adhered to. The following dietary scale for steerage passengers, laid down in the 12th schedule of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, is of interest. See Table IV.

Certain substitutions may be made in this scale at the option of the master of any emigrant ship, provided that the substituted articles are set forth in the contract tickets of the steerage passengers.

—Weekly, per Statute Adult.

In the British army the soldier is fed partly by a system of co-operation. He gets a free ration from government of 1 ℔ of bread and ℔ of meat; in addition there is a messing allowance of 3d. per man per day. He is able to supplement his food by purchases from the canteen. Much depends on the individual management in each regiment as to the satisfactory expenditure of the messing allowance. In some regiments an allowance is made from the canteen funds towards messing in addition to that granted by the government. The ordinary field ration of the British soldier is 1 ℔ of bread or 1 ℔ of biscuit; 1 ℔ of fresh, salt or preserved meat; oz. of coffee; 1/6 oz. of tea; 2 oz. of sugar;  oz. of salt,  oz. of pepper, the whole weighing something over 2 ℔ 3 oz. This cannot be looked on as a fixed ration, as it varies in different campaigns, according to the country into which the troops may be sent. The Prussian soldier during peace gets weekly from his canteen 11 ℔ 1 oz. of rye bread and not quite 2 ℔ of meat. This is obviously insufficient, but under the conscription system it is reckoned that he will be able to make up the deficiency out of his own private means, or obtain charitable contributions from his friends. In the French infantry of the line each man during peace gets weekly 15 ℔ of bread, 3 ℔ of meat, 2 ℔ of haricot beans or other vegetables, with salt and pepper, and 1 oz. of brandy.

An Austrian under the same circumstances receives 13·9 ℔ of bread, ℔ of flour and 3·3 ℔ of meat.

The Russian conscript is allowed weekly:—

 DIETETICS, the science of diet, i.e. the food and nutrition of man in health and disease (see ). This article deals mainly with that part of the subject which has to do with the composition and nutritive values of foods and their adaptation to the use of people in health. The principal topics considered are: (1) Food and its functions; (2) Metabolism of matter and energy; (3) Composition of food materials; (4) Digestibility of food; (5) Fuel value of food; (6) Food consumption; (7) Quantities of nutrients needed; (8) Hygienic economy of food; (9) Pecuniary economy of food.

1. Food and its Functions.—For practical purposes, food may be defined as that which, when taken into the body, may be utilized for the formation and repair of body tissue, and the production of energy. More specifically, food meets the requirements of the body in several ways. It is used for the formation of the tissues and fluids of the body, and for the restoration of losses of substance due to bodily activity. The potential energy of the food is converted into heat or muscular work or other forms of energy. In being thus utilized, food protects body substance or previously acquired nutritive material from consumption. When the amount