Note 2 — Chapter I · THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR THE PROVISION OF SCHOOL MEALS

It is interesting to note that the impulse for the formation of this society came indirectly from France. In 1848 a commission of medical and scientific men had been appointed by the French Government to enquire into the causes of diseases, such as scrofula, rickets, and impoverishment of blood, to which children of the poor were exposed, and which produced so much mortality. The Committee reported that in their opinion the diseases were caused by children not having animal food, and might be checked by their having a meal of fresh meat once a month. Owing to political events no action was taken on this report, but it made a great impression on Victor Hugo, and some fourteen years later (in 1862) he started the experiment of giving dinners of fresh meat and a small glass of wine, once a fortnight, to forty of the most necessitous young children of Guernsey. This experiment was declared to be very successful. Many children suffering from the above diseases had been cured, "and the physical constitution of nearly the whole of them sensibly improved" (Punch, January 16, 1864). This description concluded with a suggestion that a similar scheme might be initiated in London. The Destitute Children's Dinner Society was the result. (Charity Organisation Review, January, 1885, p. 23.)