232 
Clay  as  a  Medicine. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1920. 
than  the  rest.  In  the  spring,  torrents  rush  down  from  the  high 
hills,  form  this  clay  into  pellets,  and  rolls  that  accumulate  in  the 
valleys  below,  these  are  eagerly  sought  for  and  eaten."  He  states 
that  he  entered  a  cabin  where  a  boy  was  crying,  tied  to  the  leg  of 
a  table;  the  mother  stated  that  the  boy  wanted  to  go  out  and  get 
some  clay  to  eat,  but  she  thought  (although  a  clay  eater  herself) 
that  he  ought  to  eat  some  food  first,  of  which  there  was  plenty  on 
the  table.  The  doctor  brought  some  of  the  clay  home  to  Phila- 
delphia and  analyzed  it  with  the  aid  of  a  friend,  when  it  was  found 
to  contain  arsenic. 
In  the  Literary  Digest  of  1916,  page  1027,  is  an  interesting  arti- 
cle, "Earth  as  a  medicine  and  food."  Some  of  the  statements  are 
as  follows:  "In  the  upper  parts  of  Italy,  Styria  in  Austria,  and  in 
certain  parts  of  Germany  the  workmen  butter  their  bread  with  a 
fine  article  of  clay  nicknamed  'stone  butter.'  The  real  home  of 
earth  eating  is  stated  to  be  Asia.  The  famous  earth  of  Nishpiu*, 
Persia,  is  used  either  raw  or  roasted,  prepared  with  spices  or  perfumes. 
In  the  markets  of  Calcutta  burnt  clay  is  offered  in  small  disks,  the 
women  being  the  principal  consumers.  In  Africa  along  the  shores 
of  certain  rivers  in  Senegambia,  they  use  a  soft  soapy  clay  as  but- 
ter. The  natives  of  New  Caledonia  eat  a  ferruginous  clay,  either 
fresh  or  preserved  in  the  form  of  dried  perforated  cakes  for  their 
dessert. 
"In  the  neighborhood  of  Ouro,  Bolivia,  S.  A.,  is  found  a  white 
extremely  delicate  clay  which  is  sent  to  the  neighboring  markets 
and  eaten  preferably  with  boiled  potatoes. 
"The  ultimate  reason  for  this  dietic  curiosity  are  manifold,  the 
agreeable  salty  taste,  and  a  perversion  of  the  appetite  being  some 
of  them.  Sometimes  it  is  the  medicinal  instinct,  the  craving  for 
these  peculiar  substances  is  mainly  a  tropical  instinct.  This  may 
explain  the  use  of  earth  as  a  medicine  by  some  of  the  greatest 
physicians  of  antiquity." 
Current  Literature  published  an  article  in  1902  taken  from  the 
St.  Louis  Post  Despatch,  entitled  "The  Dirt  Eaters  of  St.  Louis." 
It  says  "the  dirt  eater  is  peculiar  about  what  dirt  he  eats,  the  article 
of  his  peculiar  diet  is  technically  a  sand.  It  comes  from  the  river 
bottoms  and  is  made  up  of  many  little  particles  of  granite,  marble 
and  flint,  rounded  with  age.  The  chief  dirt  eater,  Wm.  Windsor 
by  name,  who  is  fat  and  jolly,  has  the  sand  collected  and  sterilized 
and  distributes  it  among  his  followers  at  25  cents  a  sack."  It 
