The essentials of school diet, or, The diet suitable for the growth and development of youth

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BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

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Prefatory Note

BY

Sir WILLIAM BROADBENT, Bart., m.d., ll.d., f.r.s., f.r.c.p.

Physician E xtraordinary to H er M ajesty the Queen Physician in Ordinary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales

RIVINGTONS

34, KING STREET, , CO VENT GARTEN

LONDON

WELLCOME INSTITUTE LIBRARY

Coll.

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Call

No.

PREFATORY NOTE

Physician Extraordinary to Her Majesty the Queen, Physician in Ordinary to H.R.H. the Prince

of Wales.

Dr. Clement Dukes has earned the right to speak with authority on all matters relating to the health of boys and girls during the important period of school life. He has enjoyed unexampled opportunities of studying the ways and the needs of the boys of a great public school, and of the younger boys at preparatory schools, and he has extended his inquiries to schools of the most varied character. The results of his observations b

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Prefatory Note.

are embodied in two important works, “Health at School” and “School Diet,” the latter of which is going into a new edition.

This book is not a mere dry exposition of dietary principles. From the first the note is struck that in the proper regulation of food, it is not only the health of the boy or girl which is concerned, but the intellectual efficiency and, it may be, the moral welfare.

Dr. Dukes points out that, in addition to adequacy in the amount of food provided, the quality, variety, good cooking, and proper serving should be seen to, and that the duty of the house-master does not end even here : he should see that each boy gets his proper share, and that

Prefatory Note.

Vll it is eaten. Dr. Dukes insists on all these points with pardonable and perhaps necessary iteration, and not only shows what ought to be done, but how it can be done. Parents also come in for a share in his exhortations, and the book is one to be read and studied by parents as well as by house-masters and matrons.

Two important points in Dr. Dukes’ teaching may be selected for special emphasis : the first, that stimulants are entirely unnecessary as part of the diet of the young, and, in most instances, harmful ; the other, that the food of the day should be so distributed that any evening meal is light.

Preface To The First Edition

This short treatise is designed to serve as a practical guide to parents, schoolmasters, and schoolmistresses, concerning the food required by the youth of this country during their years at school.

My aim has been throughout to insist upon those conditions which are requisite for the attainment of the highest state of growth and development in the youth of both sexes, without touching the borderland even of luxury.

It has, in fact, been my object to suggest for young human beings what the agriculturist seeks to obtain amongst animals : the production of the finest specimens of the race. And this comparison suggests the statement that, unhappily, at the present time, more care and

Preface to the First Edition.

IX thought are expended in the rearing of animals, than in the efficient development, from this point of view, of the offspring of human beings.

It is not within the province of this work to discuss the school-diet question from the lowest standard. I refer to that school-diet which is regulated to such a nicety, on account of the consideration of expense, that illness is just averted, while growth and development are totally ignored. It has been only too easy, from time immemorial to the present day, for schools to provide “short commons;” and it is simply by strenuous and persistent teaching and effort, that a proper standard of responsibility and supervision in this respect can be inculcated.

The question of the lowest standard of diet necessary for children arises chiefly in prisons, reformatories, workhouses, orphan asylums, charity schools, and the poorest class

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Preface to the First Edition.

of schools. But, even here, I maintain that the cheapest policy, in the long run, for the rearing of youth, is to feed them well, so that they may be aided to attain the maximum of size and strength. If they are thus helped to reach the healthiest adult age, more and better work will be obtained from them, with more vigorous brain power and higher characters, and with fewer cases of incapacity and deficient energies.

I am, therefore, now mainly concerned with the great public schools of England, and with those estimable high-class private schools, which supply the public schools with pupils, and which have done so much, not only to advance the education of this country, but, still more, to improve the tone and remove many of the harsh features of the great schools, — results which could scarcely have been attained without the exercise of their influence during the early years of the boys they educate.

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xi

In both these types of schools, it is expected that ample food of the best kind, varied from day to day, and from season to season, and cooked in the most approved fashion, will be supplied.

It is desired that this book may prove to be the means, not merely of obviating the exorbitant demands of parents, but also of preventing the possibility of an insufficient supply of food being provided by the masters themselves. Food is insufficient no less by defect of quantity and quality than by the absence of an adequate variety. No efficient digestion, no liveliness of disposition, can be produced without variety of food ; monotony of diet generates monotony of character, through the want of nutrition it engenders.

I have only ventured to discuss this burning question fully, after twenty years’ consideration of the subject, obtained by close xii Preface to the First Edition.

observation, minute and wide inquiry, and careful study.

It must in no degree be inferred that I describe in these pages the dietary arrangements of the school which I have the honour to serve. I have, on the contrary, endeavoured — and I think successfully — to keep Rugby out of my mind : it is needless to state, however, that the office which I have held for so many years has furnished me with the insight and experience to detect the good and bad aspects of these arrangements in all schools, and to clearly comprehend from this point of view the requirements of youth.

The apparent detection by my readers of any reference, direct or indirect, to some particular school, will possess no valid ground, and will only signify that the principles I shall venture to express are true by reason of their universal applicability.

Preface to the First Editio?i

xm

Some amount of repetition has been unavoidable, inasmuch as my aim has been to render each section complete in itself. In this way the reader, who uses the volume for reference, has been saved the trouble of turning to various parts of the book for the information he desires.

I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to the work of Mr. Wynter Blyth, on “ Diet in Relation to Health and Work,” for the valuable tables showing the percentage composition of the various articles of diet.

CLEMENT DUKES.

Rugby,

January, 1891.

Preface To The Second

EDITION

It is now eight years since this little book was issued, and a new edition is demanded. The intervening period has been marked by considerable progress in all that relates to the welfare of the young during their time of education. Among other improvements, more thoughtful attention, and increased conscientiousness, have been expended on the school commissariat. Now that we are to develop our resources by the extension of Secondary Education, a more sedulous care is imperative.

One of my kind reviewers of the First Edition, in commending the book, remarked, that while some of my suggestions were excellent, they were impracticable. I am too old a

Preface to the Second Edition

xv hand to miss the weak points in a system, and their remedy.

If points which I have suggested can be considered impracticable, when they are already carried out in the best class of schools, then I admit the charge. I mean those schools which are conducted by headmasters and mistresses who are educators, and not mere teachers.

I have not yet made one suggestion which is not workable, — nay, which is not already being practised in some good school, and which I insist should be adopted in all.

For what I complain of is, that the “terms ” are quite as high in schools where the pupils are too much neglected, as they are in schools where they are well cared for in every way.

The greatest requirement in all schools — but lacking in many — is personal supervision in details. It is a favourite expression for masters and mistresses to aver that they are

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Preface to the Second Edition

in loco parentis : I grant it. But, if this be not a mere idle form of words, it means that the same thoughtful care which the parent exercises over his child is due from the teacher to the pupil, and in no question more than in this one of food. I ask no more than this : I demand no less.

CLEMENT DUKES.

Rugby,

Contents

TAGE

I. Introduction ... ... ... ... i

II. The Principles of Diet ; or, why do we i. To repair Wear and Tear, — Life ... 26

Introduction

The subject of School Diet is obviously of vital interest, since the mode in which the physical system is affected in this respect in early life must possess a potent influence upon the development of that system, and, incidentally, of the mental and moral capacities, in the child’s subsequent career.

I wish it to be thoroughly understood, in limine , that, throughout this treatise, my remarks have equal reference to schools for boys and girls.

The food-supply at schools has always engaged considerable attention on the part of the boys and girls themselves. It has been generally a sore point with them ever since the custom arose of sending children away from home to boarding-schools for education. For it touches an organ— the stomach — which,

f f

B throughout the whole animal creation, but more especially amongst the human race, has a peculiar sensitiveness of its own on this question.

I cannot, of course, discuss here the various traits of character which are manifested when the stomach is an “aching void.” Nor, on the other hand, can I do much more than testify to the opposite features of character which a well-filled stomach tends to foster or helps to produce. Nor am I able to do more than refer to the variations in temper which are occasioned by indigestion arising from the devouring of inappropriate food and drink ; from its consumption at unadvisable hours ; or from the hurry immediately after meals. These influences are too well-known to require more than passing notice, since it is admitted that the sensations have a great effect upon the training of the disposition and character of the young. What a much easier and serener time masters — and boys — would enjoy if human beings were less under the influence of the stomach !

The view entertained, by many parents, of

Introduction .

the public school system seems to be this : that it consists of large schools where boys have to rough it. Defined in detail they would describe it thus : it is a school where high fees have to be paid ; where the boy lacks all necessary supervision, and is almost totally neglected ; where the food-supply has to be supplemented, as well as the supply of covering for his bed ; and where he is very imperfectly housed by day and night. If this conception of public schools were ever accurate, which I am not in a position to dispute, and which I am disposed to credit, on account of the very bitter reminiscences recorded by so many parents of their own past youth ; still, I am bound to admit that this is not my experience of the public schools of the present day. Nous avons changi tout cUa. I am convinced that the public schools of England, constituted as they now are, mostly, if not entirely, provide a good education mentally, morally, and physically ; and that the boys are usually well cared for in every particular.

Essentials of School Diet .

Rightly or wrongly, the treatment of the young at boarding-schools has been frequently regarded by parents and pupils as a process of semi-starvation on the “ Do-the-boys’-Hall ” principle. Hence we continually find adult writers speaking of their insufficient dietary during school-life, with more or less painful remembrances of the hardship and suffering which the pangs of hunger then entailed.

Nor is this question dormant in the present generation. It involves such widespread interest that, from time to time, it takes the form of a discussion in The Times , where we read the various opinions and suggestions of those who partake of the diet, those who supply it, and those who pay for it.

I, therefore, propose to look into the matter, to sift it, and to try to discover whether these complaints are just, and if so, to suggest their remedy ; while, if they are thus found to be groundless, I shall endeavour to point out their origin, the responsibility for the fault, and the mode in which the complaints are to be obviated.

Introduction.

At one of the schools where I received part of my education, I could not find fault with the quality of the food — hungry stomachs are not amenable to this charge — for I rarely knew what it was to have enough to eat, as even the bread and meagre butter were limited; and many a time have I purchased a roll of bread immediately after dinner, to supply the gap which a scanty meal had left.

If we go back a generation further, we have, in the life of a nobleman recently issued, a vivid account of his hardships at school, where “ he suffered exquisite misery for years through the neglect and inhumanity of the principal of the school in failing to provide sufficiently even the necessaries of life, and where the treatment was starvation and cruelty.”

And if we take the generation subsequent to my own, we find that the starvation experienced while journeying “ In Darkest Africa ” reminded one of the members of the Expedition of the painful sensations of his school-life.

Nowadays the same fault occurs in some

Essentials of School Diet.

schools ; but the outcry is mainly against the quality of the food, involving the evidence that the quantity is not deficient. If complaints are heard that children at school do not get sufficient to eat, parents should ask the master to show them, or, better still, the master should invite the parents to see, the waste of one day — a surer test could not be found. If the waste is nil , then the children probably get barely enough ; while if the waste is great, it is clear that they have more than enough, for hungry stomachs do not waste food, u?iless it is so bad, or there is so much sameness in it, that it nauseates the stomach and cannot be eaten. The present waste, if obviated, would more than pay for more variety of food, better puddings, and for oranges and apples during the winter months, when it is next to impossible to induce children to eat winter greens.

It seems to me that very valuable lessons would be learnt by schoolmasters if they would from time to time carefully inspect for themselves the waste that goes on in their houses,

Introduction.

and occasionally examine the contents of the hog-tub — indeed, it seems to me their imperative duty to do so, and to do it systematically. If this supervision were carefully and conscientiously carried out, more instruction would be derived, if what they saw and found were traced to its source, than could be obtained by any other means.

There is no doubt whatever that in this question of school dietaries there are faults on all sides. Parents are often unreasonable in their expectations ; children are frequently fastidious to a degree ; and masters rarely give the subject the attention it requires. And when we reflect how human nature delights in being discontented, it is surprising that complaints do not more frequently arise.

That the food at school is sometimes deficient in quantity is beyond all question true, and this is absolutely indefensible. A growing child should never be stinted in its materials of growth, so that at this important period of life the tissues may be nurtured without the serious

Essentials of School Diet.

detriment of feeding on themselves. If the payments demanded from parents are insufficient to cover this, it is imperative that the payments should be augmented, and that the growth of the child should not be stunted for life. For the ground lost at this period of life is never recovered.

Sometimes the food is deficient in quantity while plenty is provided. This is rather an “ Irishism,” but I will make myself clear. The condition may occur under the following circumstances : —

1. Because the strong boys get possession of the food of their weaker, or more bashful, schoolfellows, and either leave insufficient for them, or a complete absence of the choicer bits, — securing, for example, the best joints or the prime cuts off the joint, and taking an unfair advantage of the loaf of bread.

2. Because the meals are unwisely arranged, or improperly divided, so that although the orthodox amount may be provided of each article of diet by weight or measure, yet, owing

Introduction.

to the unwise division of the meals, the child does not receive his due amount of food. For instance, if bread and butter only be provided for breakfast, say at 8 a.m., this will be digested and used up by the system long before dinner takes place at 1.30 p.m., and therefore from about 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. the body will be starved. Then at dinner the boy can only eat a certain amount of food, however much the caterer may supply, and thus the defect of the two hours and a half of starvation is never recovered, although growth must take place all the same. The remedy consists in giving a good lasting meat meal at breakfast.

3. Because the diet is so monotonous that children will leave their meals, although they are hungry, rather than eat what their stomach loathes on account of the sameness of the food.

Even assuming that schools provided the most expensive foods, if there be too much sameness, and they be too frequently supplied, the stomach rebels, the system starves, and growth and development are, in consequence,

Essentials of School Diet.

imperfect. I have heard the story told of one of the highest personages in this country, that he regards it as one of the greatest treats to be permitted to eat a plain mutton chop off the gridiron. In olden times, too, it was a common practice for the indentures of an apprentice to contain a clause stipulating that he should not have salmon more than twice a week during the season, since owing to its abundance it was cheap, and thus became a prevailing dish for the apprentice. The most tasty articles of food always nauseate the soonest, and, when this state of affairs is induced, starvation will be faced rather than a continuance of the offending article endured.

At other times, while there is no deficiency in quantity , the quality, the variety, and the cooking of the food are unsatisfactory. It is too often the case that neither the master nor his wife themselves supervise the school dietary with sufficient attention. This would not signify in the least if care were always taken, and judgment exercised, in procuring a really

Introduction.

1 1

efficient matron, or housekeeper, whose duty it should be to personally see to the food-supply from the time it leaves the tradesman’s shop until it reaches the child’s stomach, and who alone should be held responsible. For it would be probably far better selected, varied, and cooked if the daily supervision were allotted definitely to one who had been trained for the purpose, and chosen because of capacity for the office. But anything more unsuitable and inefficient than some of the matrons in schools it is difficult to imagine. The last point in their selection that seems to have been considered is their capacity for the post ; and, worse still, when a really capable matron has been found, who knows her duties well, strives to do them, and sees that her subordinates faithfully perform their work, it often happens that, instead of recognizing her value, and affording her hearty support in her difficult work, she is too often removed, and an inefficient matron procured in her place. The consequence is, that this food question is generally left to take care of itself, with consequences that affect the boarders for life. Those only who have had to deal with really competent matrons know their priceless value in schools, both to pupils and to principals.

Again, while a master may be generously disposed, his wife may be the reverse, and thus the boarders suffer ; or, while the wife is liberally inclined in the school dietary, she may be so stinted in “supply” that she cannot efficiently provide.

No one who caters for the feeding of children at school can satisfy his conscience that he has done his duty by simply drawing a cheque sufficient to provide an ample dietary. It is his imperative duty to see that the pupil actually receives what is his due. Anything short of this is tantamount to neglect.

There is no doubt, too, that it is the tendency of human nature to purchase the cheapest articles in the cheapest market, — a principle which often means the absence of principle.

There are also minor matters, though by no

Introduction.

means of small importance, which demand the care of the master ; such as seeing that the big boys do not secure all the best cuts of the meat, and do not eat all the potatoes ; that the meat is carefully carved, and not hacked into lumps ; that the knives and forks and other requisites for meals are well cleaned ; that the meals, served hot from the kitchen, are expeditiously and fairly served in the dining-hall.

It is also a duty of paramount importance for the caterer to inquire into the cause of a pupil not eating his food at meal-times. Is it because he has been to the pastrycook’s, or has he received a hamper ? Is it because the meat is tainted in hot weather, or is the meat coarse and badly cooked ? I have heard these reasons assigned too frequently not to believe them ; and, even while writing this book, I learn from a master who had his food with the pupils, that the meat was unfit to eat, for the reasons specified. Is the child ill, and therefore cannot eat his food ? I have known children refuse most of their food for a day or two, or fail to

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Essentials of School Diet.

eat their dinner for days, and yet no one was aware of the fact, because it was nobody’s business to investigate. Yet children require, and have a right to, this requisite supervision.

It is a well-known fact that masters too frequently neglect the consideration of these matters, and no one else attends to them. Every child who does not eat his food should be known to his master, and careful inquiry should be made into the cause. It is contrary to nature that a child should not take his food ; a palpable cause always exists in such a case, which only requires investigation for removal. It should never be forgotten by those who have themselves completed their growth, that adults often sit down to their meals seeking appetite, rather than food ; while growing youth requires food rather than appetite, — unless abnormal conditions predominate.

It is clear that masters will never really know the actual details of school meals until they adopt the plan of themselves having no stationary seat at meal-times, but a movable one, so that

Introduction .

when they enter the dining-hall at any meal none of the subordinates should know where they will sit. They could then touch any boy on the shoulder and say, “ Go and take my seat,” at this meal. He could then sit in the boy’s place, use his appliances, be served in his stead, and eat his food. Then he would see for himself where the “shoe pinches.”

He should, especially, occupy the seat of the lowest, which means sometimes the youngest, slowest, and most frail boy in his house, and

be served LAST. In this way he would realize, to its full extent, the shortness of time that the tedious eater is allowed for his meal. For it often happens that the elder boys, which usually means those who are served first, have actually finished a course before the last boy is served ; and yet they all leave the table together. This, therefore, signifies that the little delicate boy must either go without part of his food, or bolt it to the serious detriment of his already impaired digestive organs. Perhaps he is a dunce, and worried because of his

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Essentials of School Diet.

ignorance ; but how is he able to make healthy, vigorous brain tissue, which alone can produce brain function, while thus treated ? Where is the “ Age of Chivalry,” where is the “ Christain Life,” when the strongest take care of themselves, and every facility is provided “ by authority ” in this direction ; while the “ weakest go to the wall,” and never receive a helping hand from those who have assumed the place and the duties of parents, and who are paid to exercise this necessary supervision ?

Another plan would consist in some responsible person being deputed to walk about the dining-hall during meal-times, and closely investigate every detail.

Another help would be for the teacher to encourage hoys and girls to make complaints, which, at present, is not even tolerated ; or still better would it be, if the master would regularly seek information from those at the top and those at the bottom of the school — especially the latter — and then carefully consider the reports. In this way unreasonable

Introduction.

complaints would never occur, for it is a law of human nature that, when any one can readily obtain redress of his real grievances, groundless and frivolous complaints do not arise.

I have no hesitation in saying that, at the present moment, in most schools, no boy dare make a legitimate complaint to his master, however reasonable, as to the quantity or quality of his food, or the cleanliness of his meals. He would not be listened to, or he would be snubbed, or he would do it “ at his peril.” Consequently he makes illegitimate complaints at home, which cannot be investigated, and which frequently would not bear investigation.

The way in which a complaint concerning the school food should be met is shown in the following instance. It occurred recently in a first-class school, where the master knows and does his duty. A boy found fault with his meat at dinner. The master immediately sent for the butcher who supplied the meat, and the doctor who attended to the health of the school ;

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Essentials of School Diet.

the latter was asked, in the presence of the former, whether the meat was such as should be be supplied for young and growing boys. As the doctor was unable to condemn the meat, the butcher escaped censure. The complainer must have felt uncomfortable : he scarcely

realized that his complaint would receive so careful investigation.

Now, the point I wish to impress is this : that if similar care were bestowed upon all complaints, those arising from the caprice and daintinesses of the individual would at once cease, and parents and pupils would be more contented, and masters happier. Whereas complaints at present, whether just or unjust, are usually totally ignored, or the complainer is censured. It is obvious that the wise, as well as the equitable mode of treatment, just to both masters and boys, consists in a patient, fair, and exhaustive investigation on the spot.

But where a parent makes complaints, the best plan to satisfy him would be to invite him to “drop in ” at any meal when neither master,

Introduction.

boy, nor servants would expect him, so that he could see and taste for himself.

Any one of the above plans would be possible and effectual. In fact, in some schools — far too few — one or other of these methods is already in vogue, although the number of pupils may be over a hundred. The difficulty, if there be one, is not in carrying it out, but in recognizing its importance.

On the other hand, there are boys who are so fastidious that nothing pleases them, however well provided.

Others, who are so petted and pampered at home with rich delicacies that it takes some time at the beginning of every term for their stomachs to settle down to plainer and more wholesome food. Pocket-money, again, is too lavishly supplied to them when at school : the stomach consequently is often imprudently regaled with luxuries before instead of after meals, so that the regular school food is either left untouched, or simply picked over with more or less disgust.