It does not appear that Paris will fall soon for
want of food, and we have explained elsewhere one cause of the German blunder on the subject. They forgot the difference between consumption ad libitum and consumption when confined to the maintenance of health. It is certain that Paris can go on for many weeks, and the point is, how many? After a careful comparison of all state- ments, we come to the conclusion that the city retains enough meat, principally horse, to give the people two full meals a week and the soldiers four, till March ; and enough bread, chocolate, and wine for three months. The besieged correspondent of the Food Journal, writing on the 15th inst., though dis- heartened on other points, is easy about flour, and acknowledges 4,300 milch cows, while there seems to be evidence that at least 30,000 horses are alive, besides those needed for the Artillery. The stories about eating rats, dogs, and cats are half jocular, half the result of efforts made by men with plenty of bread to obtain some animal food. Nothing is said anywhere about salt.
