96

Results extracted from Table VII and VIII—contd.

       It is evident that with any of these types of diet we get a much better absorp-
tion than with the ordinary jail diet; there must, therefore, be a proportionally
smaller residue for the intestines to deal with, and so much less opportunity for
intestinal putrefaction and fermentation. We are not concerned with the question
of vegetarianism nor with the degree of nitrogenous metabolism supposed to be
most beneficial to health; what we are desirous of doing is to arrange the
constituents and the quantities of those constituents in such a manner that a
maximum effect will be obtained, thus entailing a minimum amount of waste and
an economical dieting of jails by the State.

       With this object in view and ever bearing in mind its beneficial effects, so far as
can be at present judged on the health of the prisoner, we would recommend that,
in case it were deemed advisable to enlarge the list of the constituents of lower
Bengal jail diets, a reduction in both rice and dal be made with an addition of wheat
ata or—in certain prisons, where fish is easily and cheaply procurable—an inter-
changeable quantity of fish. The type of diet that would appear to give the best
results and leave the least residue would be on somewhat the following lines:—