tije 6pettator, Oeptember 10th, 1853 MOST people are aware that
the consumption of animal food in France is much less per head than it is in England; but one could hardly have supposed that the difference was so great as would appear from the dietary fixed by the Minister of Public Instruction, the other day, for the pupils in the Lycees in Paris. In consequence of complaints that the pupils did not receive a sufficient amount of nutritious diet
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for their perfect physical and intellectual development, a commission of physicians was lately appointed to examine the quantity and quality of the food supplied. The result of their inquiry is, that the pupils have not been receiving a sufficient quantity of meat, and therefore the Minister of Public Instruction has ordered a larger allowance for them in future. The senior pupils are now to have 2+ ounces of meat for dinner, the middle class rather more than 2 ounces each, and the juniors about I+ ounces each. But even this improved dietary is much inferior to that of the inmates of most of our prisons. From the Eighteenth Report of the Inspectors of Prisons we find, that in the regular dietary of male prisoners above fourteen years of age, the allowance of meat is 4 ounces to each person, and to women and children 3 ounces each. In English establishments of a similar nature to those in Paris, the daily average consumption of meat would be not less than 8 ounces per head; more than three times the quantity allowed to the big boys in the Paris colleges. With such a difference in the dietaries of the two nations; it is no wonder that England should take the lead in whatever requires force of thought or action.
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