Am  Jour.  Pharm.) 
April,  1920.) 
Clay  as  a  Medicine. 
231 
been  made,  that  an  official  of  the  Standard  Oil  Co.,  reading  in  the 
Book  of  Exodus  of  the  ark  made  from  bulrushes  daubed  with  slime 
and  pitch,  was  inspired  by  it  to  prospect  for  oil  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile;  it  is  reported  as  having  been  found  in  paying  quantities. 
We  also  read  in  the  Book  of  Exodus  of  the  Children  of  Israel, 
then  in  bondage  to  the  Egyptians,  being  required  to  make  a  certain 
number  of  bricks  per  day,  straw  being  furnished  them  as  a  binding 
material,  for  the  clay  of  Egypt  contains  considerable  sand.  Finally 
to  make  their  tasks  harder,  straw  was  refused  them,  and  they  were 
required  to  glean  the  straw  from  the  fields,  but  the  tale  of  bricks 
required  of  them  was  not  diminished. 
Clay  was  also  used  for  seals,  the  jars  of  Egypt  were  sometimes 
sealed  with  clay,  and  mummy  pits  were  also  sealed  with  this  sub- 
stance, the  remains  of  which  is  often  found  adhering  to  the  door 
jambs.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  tomb  in  which  the  body  of 
Christ  was  laid  after  the  crucifixion  was  sealed  with  a  clay  seal. 
The  seal  used  for  public  documents  was  rolled  on  the  moist  clay  and 
afterwards  placed  in  the  fire  and  baked.  It  is  said  by  Wilkinson 
"the  sealing  of  doors"  with  clay  to  facilitate  detection  in  case  of 
malpractice  is  still  common  in  the  East.  Before  going  farther  it 
would  be  well  to  seek  a  definition  of  the  word  clay.  The  Century 
Dictionary  says  "it  is  the  material  resulting  from  the  decomposition 
and  consequent  hydration  of  the  feldspathic  rocks,  especially  granite 
and  gneiss  and  of  the  crystallin  rocks  in  general."  The  National 
Dispensatory  gives  us  a  sharper  definition,  in  which  it  says,  "clay 
is  essentially  a  hydrated  aluminum  silicate,  and  that  the  purest 
forms  are  kaolin,  fullers  earth  and  porcelain  clay." 
It  is  stated  that  in  some  parts  of  the  earth,  notably  in  some  of 
our  Southern  States,  it  is  a  practice  to  eat  what  is  called  dog  clay, 
or  clay  stone,  the  persons  following  this  abnormal  practice  being 
generally  lean  and  cadaverous.  According  to  Dunglinson  those 
who  practice  earth  eating  are  called  "geophagists,"  and  the  act  is 
called  "geophagism." 
In  trying  to  substantiate  the  above  statement  I  came  across  an 
article  in  the  American  Architect,  Vol.  23,  page  214,  by  , Dr.  Frank 
H.  Getchell  of  Philadelphia.  The  doctor  went  on  a  gunning  ex- 
pedition to  Salisbury,  N.  C,  in  1888.  "In  the  wild  hilly  country 
back  of  the  town  he  met  the  'clay  eaters,'  a  miserable  race  of  beings 
with  only  enough  energy  to  eke  out  a  miserable  existence.  The 
soil  is  of  a  heavy  clayey  nature,  but  there  are  strata  of  clay  heavier 
