A Study of the Diet and Metabolism of Eskimos. 11 



pills and pass through the intestines almost or wholly unaltered. Of 

 Angelica the young shoots are eaten as a delicacy in July. It is of no 

 importance quantitatively. Seaweeds [Laminaria and some Rhodo- 

 phyceae) are eaten together with mussels when no other food is ob- 

 tainable but "to live off the beach" means to be utterly destitute. 

 A few Eskimos hke seaweeds and eat them when they can get them. 

 When we have mentioned further that the half digested debris of 

 plants found in the stomach of the Reindeer is much liked by the 

 Eskimos, but comparatively seldom obtainable, we have exhausted 

 the list of Eskimo vegetables. 



Their chief and favourite food the Eskimos get from the seals. 

 They eat the meat, the liver^, the blood and some of the blubber. The 

 seal meat is very dark, almost black (probably from a large content 

 of hæmoglobin). It contains in the fresh state about 19 "/o albumin. 

 It may be rich in glycogen (2 — 4 "/„) ^ and it contains very little visible, 

 but, as Dr. Benedicts' analyses go to show, a large percentage of 

 invisible fat (6 — 10 "/o). The Eskimos simply boil it together with a 

 little blubber (sometimes in sea water) by which process it contracts 

 and loses w^eight. 1 kg fresh seal meat will give 0.77 kg boiled meat. 

 It is generally eaten without addition of any kind. Besides the seals 

 the Eskimos eat the meat of Reindeer, Walruses and Whales. Whales 

 abound but are not regularly caught. It is customary to shoot at 

 any whale coming near enough. There is always the chance that it 

 may die from the wounds and the carcass drift on to the shore and 

 be found. The skin of young whales is considered a special delicacy. 

 It has been examined recently by Bertelsen ^ and found to contain 

 an extraordinary large proportion of glycogen. 



^ The liver of one of the seals {Phoca barbata) and also of the Polar Bear are 

 rejected by the Eskimos because they are poisonous, and the dogs likewise will 

 not eat them. Gases of poisoning with bear liver have been observed repeatedly 

 by arctic travellers and the clinical symptoms have been studied by Lindhard 

 on the Danish Expedition to the North East coast of Greenland and described 

 (in Danish) in Hospitalstidende 1910, p. 338 — 44. 19 men became ill after eating 

 bear liver — to try if it were poisonous — showing symptoms pointing to a primary 

 affection of the central nervous system and probably also of the skin (desquama- 

 tion of epidermis after 2 to 3 days). This last named symptom has been observed 

 repeatedly and also after eating the liver of Phoca barbata. According to recent 

 experience by the arctic travellers Mikkelsen and Iversen the liver of dogs 

 {Eskimo dogs) appears to possess the same poisonous qualities. A toxicological 

 examination of these livers would be of considerable interest. 



2 We have no direct determinations of the glycogen, but when we compare 

 the heats of combustion of the samples with the amounts of N and crude fat found 

 in them we find an excess of energy which must probably be ascribed to glycogen. 



3 Hospitalstidende, Bd. 54, 1911, p. 537: Animalske Antiscorbutica i Grøn- 

 land. The epidermis of Narwhale and Whitewhale [Monodon monoceros and 

 Béluga leucas) is 12 — 15 mm. thick. In the stratum corneum of 2 — 3 mm. thick- 

 ness and also in the deepest layer round the papillae there is comparatively httle 

 glycogen. But in the middle layers the cells are filled with glycogen granulations 



