Some effects of certain diets upon excretion by the kidneys and upon the blood / by R.S. Aitchison.

  • Aitchison, Robert Swan.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some effects of certain diets upon excretion by the kidneys and upon the blood / by R.S. Aitchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    104/132 (page 96)
    r would ask those interested in the respective nutritive values of the pauper diets to consider these figures. A kilo- gramme is equal to (very nearly) 2 lbs. 3i ounces. If the body- weights of the paupers be converted into kilogrammes, and the calories be divided by the weights (in kilos.), the quotients will show the number of calories given, daily, per kilogramme of weight. The average weight of the paupers = 9 st. 2 lbs. (about 60 kilos.). The lowest values for each person, that should be given, are 32 calories daily, per kilogramme of body-weight for individuals at absolute rest in bed; and 38 calories, per kilo- gramme, for persons doing very light work. More should be allowed wdien the work done is such work as wwders in the Hospital, sawers, bunchers of wood, &c., &c. Again, if it be desired to know the body-weights, which the total calories (tabled above) are sufficient to maintain, it is only necessary to divide by the figures 32 or 38, &c. My own opinion is—and I give it with a full sense of the importance of the principle that these diets must not be raised above the level of the lowest labouring class—that the nutritive value of a non-working pauper's diet—i.e., one not in bed, but moving about freely and doing the very light work (?) which the class is expected to do, should not be less than 35 or 36 calories daily, per kilogramme of body-weight; and for good workers, probably 40 to 42 calories per kilogramme w^ould ])e sufiicient. The amount of work done by the pauper will prob- ably correspond wdth his feeling of fitness, and it is probable that he will do rather less than more. It is the fixing of the lowest no7i~workin(j diet that I consider the most important and the most responsible duty. The substitution of skimmed milk for buttermilk wdll go far to remedy the evils w-hich exist in the vast majority of the cases, as I have pointed out in the section dealing with the abnormal conditions found. The polyuria will be diminished, and as a consequence of this, as well as from the increased nutritive value of the diets, there will be decreased excretion of urea, and less waste of the nitrogenous tissues. In many of the cases the nitrogenous equilibrium will be restored, but not in all; and as the figures still show that the nutritive values are below the mark, I would go a little further. It will save repetition if I draw attention once more to Group V. of the observations, and very briefly point out the objects of these experiments. I have already expressed my opinion as to the causation of the increased urea excretion, and have con- sidered the various factors concerned in its production. The starting-point lies in the ill-nourished condition of the pauper,