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GEOPHAGISM (EARTH-EATING) 
GEOPHAGISM (EARTH-EATING) 
By C. W. Hobley 
It may be of interest to some to learn that numbers of 
Indians and others, resident in Mombasa, eat considerable 
quantities of a soft grey aluminous rock, a kind of steatite, 
which is imported from India. This earth-eating becomes 
practically a vice, for it is said that persons once habitu- 
ated to the habit cannot leave it off, and that they gradually 
grow more and more emaciated, and eventually die. 
Dr. Spurrier informs me that the association of earth-eating 
with ankylostomiasis has long been known, and furnishes the 
following references to the subject. 
Gobert and Catouillard mention the occurrence of both 
in Southern Tunisia, where the geophagism is apparently the 
cause, not the result, of the disease (Gobert, E., and Catouil- 
lard, G., December 9, 1908 : ‘ Enquete sur l’ankylostomose 
et les affections helminthiques dans le sud de la Tunisie 
et plus particulierement dans el Djerid.’ — 4 Bull. Soc. Path. 
Exot.’). 
A paper by Christopherson signalises the habit of earth- 
eating in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and states that ankylo- 
stomiasis is only common in what is called the most Egyptian 
portion of the Sudan, which is also the region where geophagism 
occurs (Christopherson, J. B. (January 1, 1910) : ‘ Earth- 
eating in the Egyptian Sudan.’ — ‘ Journal Tropical Medicine 
and Hygiene ’). 
It is, however, I consider, unwise to generalise too widely 
on this point, for the specimens of the earth exposed for sale 
in Mombasa could hardly contain the ankylostome, for they 
appear to be pieces of very soft natural rock, practically fuller’s 
earth. Ankylostomiasis is, however, very common in Mombasa, 
and it may be that the irritation set up by the hook worm 
creates a craving which is temporarily alleviated by the con- 
sumption of this earth. This question needs further inquiry. 
