Famine
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Famine. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
fam'in, general scarcity of food. Although it is allowable to speak of a garrison suffering from famine, the term is restricted by careful writers usually to a considerable territory and a large population. Famine is most likely to occur in case a dense population is dependent on a single product for a supply of food, and has limited means of obtaining food from outside. Under such circumstances a crop failure is followed by terrible suffering and loss of life. Some of the natural causes that bring about a loss of crops and subsequent famine are flooding, unusual frosts, drought, and insect plagues. Not infrequently, in time of war, a population has been prevented from planting. History records nearly four hundred grievous famines. We have no way of estimating the number that have occurred in prehistoric times and in remote localities. The Scriptures speak of several famines. The most noted is, of course, that during which Jacob and his sons took refuge in Egypt. The forethought of their kinsman, Joseph, had caused wheat to be stored up in granaries against the day of dire want. The rice raisers of China and India have been particularly subject to famine. As late as 1877-8, 9,000,000 Chinese died for want of food. The Chinese suffered again in 1903. The British government has expended enormous sums in feeding the natives of India in time of want. In 1769-70 3,000,000 Hindus perished of starvation. In 1865-6 half as many more died. In 1877, the year also of the great Chinese famine, half a million starved to death. In 1901 the government distributed nearly $30,000,000 by way of relief. Contributions were sent from all parts of the world. Shiploads of flour, it may be remembered, were sent from the United States . In 1870-72 a quarter of the population of Persia, estimated by some at nearly 2,000,000, died of starvation. In 1846 the potato crop in Ireland failed. Despite the disbursement of $50,000,000 by the British Parliament and help from other countries, particularly America, it is estimated that Ireland lost 2,000,000 inhabitants. Burial was difficult, so many people died of famine. Hundreds of thousands of emigrants left the country for the United States and Canada. In 879 food was scarce throughout Europe. In 1125 half the population of Germany died for want of food. The multiplication of railroads and canals, the greater certainty of navigation, owing to the use of steam in propelling ships, greater diversity of crops and greater intelligence in the distribution of food supplies, render it probable that famines will one day be brought under control. One of the greatest difficulties in the way at the present time is the extreme poverty of large masses of the population. In southern Russia, for instance, in 1891-2, when 27,000,000 people were short of food and entire villages were dying of starvation, wealthy merchants in nearby ports were actually selling wheat to be shipped to the London market, the peasantry having no money or credit with which to buy. In such cases it is the plain duty of the government to prevent exportation. See Food
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a scarcity of food over large areas, resulting in suffering or death by starvation and disease to multitudes. Short crops are caused by drought, excess of rainfall, severe and untimely frosts, the ravages of insects and vermin, the devastation of war, wholesale destruction of forests, diseases of plants, etc. The Greek republics enacted very strenuous laws regarding the trade in grain; and the Romans, even at the time of their greatest prosperity, were so dependent on Egypt and Sicily for their breadstuffs, that even a brief delay in the arrival of the ships caused local famines. In the Middle Ages famines were of frequent occurrence and were often accompanied by frightful social phenomena. The famine of 1125 diminished the population of Germany onehalf. All through the Middle Ages public opinion upheld the city authorities in driving out of the gates the neediest inhabitants and letting them perish. In a famine which devastated Hungary in 1505 parents who killed and ate their children were not punished. As late as the middle of the 17th century famines were a common affliction in Europe and even in the 18th century they still occurred. The last time a period of bad harvests was designated as a famine in Germany was in 1817. During and in the year following the World War (1914-1918), there were many deaths from famine in Europe, but it is inconceivable at the present time that a general famine should devastate the central Europe or western or Americas. In India and other parts of Asia the situation is different. In India, where there are eight months of dry weather and the crops depend on the rainfall of four months and subsequent irrigation, if there is any lack in the monsoon, famine is almost sure to follow. Under the rule of the English, too, the population has greatly increased, live and, while the majority of people from hand to mouth in ordinary times, the slightest failure in the rice crop causes the famine point to be immediately reached. The recent famine in India cost the government in 1900-1901 $28,235,000. Apart from this $13,700,- 000 was advanced to native states for famine relief and $4,735,000 for special agricultural advances. In 1870-1872 Persia lost 1,500,000 inhabitants, a quarter of the whole population. In the N. provinces or China, Shensi, Shansi, and Honan, with a population of 56,- 000,000, during the years following 1877 it was reckoned that between 4,000,000 and 6,000,000 people perished. In the famine of 1891-1892 in Russia it was estimated that in 18 provinces 27,000,- 000 inhabitants were affected. the summer of 1920, a In famine in China caused thousands of deaths.