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

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 Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    IN the “ Rules and Regulations for the Management of Scottish Poorhouses,” issued by the Local Government Board, a set of diets has been formulated for the use of the inmates. These diets are subject to the approval of the Medical Officer, so far as individual cases are concerned; but adherence to their main lines is expected when dealing with numbers. The dietary of the hospital cases, again, is a matter entirely for the Medical Officer, and it is not within my experience—now extending to eight years—to record the slightest interference with it, on the part of either the Local Government Board or the Parish Council. I desire more particularly to consider the question of the regular and ordinary diets of that large class of paupers who, after admission, pass into the hands of the parochial authorities, and are dieted according to the rules of the Local Government Board. The Medical Officer is not supposed to interfere with them or with the rules, and it is only in the event of illness that he is consulted. On admission these inmates are not suffering from any serious organic diseases, and, generally speaking, they have (if anything) only temporary functional disorders, the result of their own habits of living. Excepting always the infirm and the hospital cases, very few seem to seek relief in the poorhouse who are the victims of real misfortune; and by far the larger number of this unfortunate class are subjects given to alcoholic excesses, and who do not appreciate the “ dignity of labour.” When the Poor Law Act of 1845 was passed, and subse- quently, we can well believe—before Dickens came to the rescue—the dietary of our poorhouses and workhouses was of a very wretched character. These days are long passed away, and the attempt (fairly successful, I believe) was made to nicely balance a proper feeling of humanity, against the pockets of indifferent ratepayers. I do not propose, however, to enter into any question of parochial politics, or to discuss the character of the ordinary pauper. It is sufficient to say that a scale of diets has been prepared for paupers not suffering
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