258 MESSRS. D. HOOPER AND H. H. MANN ON 



In tea estates in Travancore, edible earths are taken by the coolies from the cuttings 

 on roadsides, and from deposits in the soil, from riverbeds and from the forests : in fact 

 suitable clay is procurable everywhere. In the Peermaad tea estates, the coolies as a rule 

 eat red earth forming the subsoil at two feet below the surface of the ground. They have 

 often been seen to pick their earth from a bank or landslip. Some natives given 

 to this habit will eat the black earth in such places where it has been worked upon in 

 damp corners by earth-worms. Others eat earth in a rough state, while some prefer it 

 powdered ; they also consume broken bricks and tiles and pieces of new country-made 

 chatties and pots. On these estates it is known that earth-eating people have also a 

 practice of eating decayed wood with relish. 



Occasionally, uncommon cravings occur for the ashes of berattis (cowdung cakes), 

 and the white ashes used on the forehead by persons of the Saiva sect of Hindus (Mad- 

 ras). Those suffering from depraved appetite in Shencotta, Travancore, also frequently 

 eat charcoal. One planter writes that various clays are used " as well as ashes, charcoal 

 and brickdust." Dr. D'Alwis, Medical Officer, Poonmudi, Travancore, writes : "The 

 eaters go to the length of having the earth prepared into a sort of pancake by mixing with 

 it jaggery, kneading and frying it in gingily or cocoanut oil." 



Besides clay, other mineral substances are often resorted to by earth-eaters. 

 Dr. Gupta of Arrah gives the case of a maidservant, Bumihar by caste, of Motihari dis- 

 trict, who used to take sand, about six chattaks a day, besides ordinary clay and burnt earth. 



But it is astonishing to find what materials are used when some of these usually 

 preferred are not obtainable. In Bengal it is quite common for the yellow clay at the 

 bottom of walls to be eaten. In the Delhi district, certain earths with a salty taste and 

 containing much lime and sodium chloride are generally resorted to. These are 

 specially selected and are baked on the hearth, and the crisp cakes then utilised 

 for eating. Failing these earths, however, recourse is had to chips of large earthen 

 vessels called mutkas, also to coal, to pieces of unglazed goblets and plates. 



Speaking of the use of salt earths introduces quite a different subject from that of 

 this paper, and their use can only be referred to as occurring commonly in districts where 

 salt is expensive. It is not therefore necessarily a sign of depraved appetite. The same 

 may, in a measure, be said of the uncommon cravings for wood ashes occasionally 

 noted from South India. 



The use of earth, besides its inordinate consumption as a habit, is sometimes re- 

 garded in the light of a charm, and its ancient magical properties would incline some 

 anthropological students to ascribe its use to this origin. 



The earth dug from a grotto in Malta, where St. Paul spent a night, was formerly 

 used for the cure of many ailments. It found a place in the pharmacopoeia of the day, 

 and was esteemed a cordial, a sudorific, and a certain remedy for the bites and stings of 

 venomous animals. In the eighteenth century it was sent from Malta made up in little 

 cakes of the form of segments of a cylinder, stamped with the impression of a cherub's 

 head and wings, with the words " Terra sigillata " underneath. 1 



I Hill, History of the Materia Medica, p. 206. 



