Ernest Starling's analysis of the energy balance of the German people during the blockade, 1914-19.
Ernest H. Starling FRS (1866-1927) is remembered as a great physiologist; nevertheless a paper of his that is of substantial historical interest has dropped out of sight. It is a quantitative analysis of the effects of the Allied food blockade during World War I on the energy available to the German population and of the failure by the German government to distribute the available energy fairly. He shows that by 1919 a substantial proportion of the urban Germans were starving. His data are summarized in this article. Starling concluded that empty stomachs were a major reason for the German capitulation. His analysis grew out of his work as the second chairman of the Food [War] Committee of The Royal Society and as one of the two British members of the International Scientific Food Commission, pioneering bodies in using science to help to set public policy.
Van der Kloot
William
W
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, SUNY at Stony Brook, NY 11794-8661, USA.
D005508:Food Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007390:International Agencies; D010827:Physiology; D013217:Starvation; D006113:United Kingdom; D014857:Warfare