AND ITS RELATION TO ANIMAL LIFE IOQ 



the one article of food which was to be sus- 

 pected was badly cured fish eaten without 

 being sufficiently cooked." 



Without having an analysis of fish it is not 

 possible to state positively ; but from a com- 

 mon sense point of view, it appears likely that 

 fish would be very deficient in iron and 

 chemical compounds more or less governed 

 by this mineral at least, the average fish is 

 wanting in fats, and lepers are wanting in the 

 same. In any discussion of this question it is 

 important to consider the conditions of life 

 of the races most subject to this disease. In 

 the old world it is specially rife in India and 

 China, where the poorer sections of the 

 population are undoubtedly insufficiently 

 nourished. The staple food of the masses is 

 rice, a cereal which is now recognized as 

 producing a physical condition suitable to 

 the development of this disease. 



In India in 1887, R. Wallace, Professor 

 of Agriculture and Rural Economy in the 

 University of Edinburgh, p. 207, says 



" It has long been a matter of surprise that 



