Interim report of the Prison Diets Committee.

  • Egypt. Wizārat al-Dākhilīyah. Prisons Department. Prison Diets Committee.
Date:
1917
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Interim report of the Prison Diets Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/78 (page 32)
    aa The convicts work for 5-5 days per week. The table shows the mean daily amount of work during: the week. TaBLE II. Energy Available for External Work. 3200 — 2150 = 1050. Kilogramme- CLASS OF LABOUR. sbi ied: Foot-tons. Eevenattahe Excese of Energy a Calories. over Expenditure. Do dsc ge hate wved ke vit MRE a Oa Se a ne 325 724 326 3 (a), P97 Sree ee ede tena relaan Pe ee) 382 851 199 oe () area a terme yr >| Wee Seas 395 879 171 4 63,180 188 454 596 5 82,838 268 596 454 As in the case of the convicts on Diet No. II, the amount of labour involved in the different tasks: varies very greatly, and if necessary the diet provided has to be adjusted to meet the requirements of those doing the maximum amount of labour. If Table II above be consulted, it will be seen that the highest daily average of work done is that of the type 3 (b) trolley men, amounting to 122,162 kilogramme-metres; type 2 labour amounts to 100,534 kilogramme-metres ; while that of type 4 labour (carriers to the crushing machines) works out at only 63,180 kilogramme-metres. In regard to these figures the margin in type 4 labour is no Jess than 596 calories, obviously much more than can be required, even admitting that the factors measured only represent a part of the actual’ labour performed. In regard to type 2 labour, however, it has to be remembered that although there: is an apparent margin of 326 calories, representing approximately 46,000 kilogramme-metres, there is a large amount of static work involved in gripping the heavy stones when raising them to the shoulder and in maintaining the load in position upon the small pad resting on the back of the neck and shoulders. while carrying it to the surface.* To indicate how considerable this may be is shown by the fact that the amount of energy expended in maintaining a weight in a fixed position by muscular effort during a certain time is equal to about halft the energy used in raising the same through a height one metre in the same period of time.t It would be very difficult to estimate the value of the work done in this way even roughly ; as indicated it may be very considerable. Taking this unknown factor into consideration, and the fact that allowance has to be made for the general energy requirements of the minimum activity over and above the resting condition, it would not appear that the margin of 326 calories is excessive. This work is regarded by the overseers as the most severe form of labour at the quarries, the general impression gained by watching the men at work certainly bears this out. In the summer, with a shade temperature of over 100° F., the heat of the sun and the intense radiation from the surrounding rocks which form the quarry wall provide conditions so different to those under which the efficiency of muscular work has been estimated as to make it difficult to assess the true energy expenditure. Fatigue increases. the energy requirements for a given amount of work, while an amount of labour which is possible when the heat-regulating mechanism can easily deal with the heat production cannot be performed when the conditions are such, as for example in a warm humid atmosphere, that that mechanism has reached the limits of its capacity for heat dissipation. The dry desert air in the hottest season of the year, com- bined with the constant wind, favours evaporations of sweat to such an extent that the men working on the surface are probably unaffected by the heat ; at the bottom of the quarry, where there is little of no- movement of the air and the rock is damp, with in some cases, pools of water, this is by no means certain. The only evidence against the heat producing any great effect on the men is that sunstroke or heat apoplexy does not occur at all commonly. It is hoped that it may be possible to make some observations on the body temperature of convicts. working under different conditions, with a view to determining how far the external temperature affects them. é With reference to the trolley work, it is possible that the tractile resistance has been over-estimated ;. if so, the work would of course be less than is here indicated. Without the use of a recording dynamometer, with which a record could be obtained of the tractile force used over the whole distance travelled, it would be impossible to get an accurate result ; such an instrument is unfortunately not available. The general opinion of the prison authorities is that the trolley work is considerably lighter labour than that of class 2; the unknown factors are fewer. It may therefore be assumed that a margin of 171 calories meets the- other daily requirements of convicts at this class of work. * See remarks at the end of Sub-Appendix II, page 37. + Johansen, 1908, ] V. Tigerstedt, Joc. cit., page 457.