Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1886 — THE CAROLINA CLAY-EATERS. [ARTICLE]

THE CAROLINA CLAY-EATERS.

A Physician’s Analysis Shows that the Clay Contains Arsenic. [Prom the Philadelphia Times.] It has been a matter of speculation for years as to why the “poor white trash” of Central North Carolina ate the clay that is found in that part of the country. It remained for a Philadelphia physician to solve the mystery. A short time ago Dr. Frank H. Getchell, of 1432 Spruce street, went on a gunning expedition to North Carolina. His quest for game led him into the wild country back of Salisbury, which is inhabited, for the most part, by a miserable race of beings with only just enough energy to eke out a wretched existence. These creatures are nearly all veritable living skeletons, and, with few exceptions, are addicted to the habit of clay-eating. While shooting wild turkey and other game in this wild region, Dr. Getchell made an incidental study of this peculiar habit of vice amoDg the inhabitants. It is a mountainous country, and in the spring little rivulets start out from the caps of snow on the mountain, and, as the days grow warmer, the little rivulets become torrents, and great wash-oifts are made along the mountain-side. The soil is of a heavy, clayey nature, but there are strata of clay that is heavier than the rest, and when the water rushes down this clay is formed into little pellets, and rolls and accumulates in heaps in the valley. These little pellets and rolls are what the clay-eaters devour with as much avidity as a toper swallows a glass of whisky. “Among the poor people of this section,” said Dr. Getchell, “the habit of ;eating clay is almost universal. Even little toddlers are confirmed in the habit, and the appetite seems to increase •jritli time. While investigating the |matter, I entered a cabin occupied by one of these poor families, and saw a little chap tied by the ankle to the leg of a table, on which was placed a big dish of bread aud meat and potatoes within easy reach. The child was kicking and crying, and I asked his mother why she had tied him up. She replied that she wanted him to eat some food before he went out to the clay and he refused to do so. The woman confessed that she ate the clay herself, but explained that the child’s health demanded that it eat some substantial food before eating any earth. Almost every one I met in this section was addicted to this habit. They were all very thin, but their flesh seemed to be pulled out. This was particularly noticeable about the eyes, which had a sort of reddish hue.

“All of the elay-eaters were excessively lazy and indolent, and all of these conditions combined led me to the conclusion that there must be some sedative or stimulating qualities, or both, in the clay, and I determined to find out whether there was or not. I consequently brought a lot of the clay home with me, and Prof. Tiernan and myself made an analysis of the stuff and discovered that, instead of clayeaters, the inhabitants of Central North Carolina should more properly be called arsenic-eaters. All of this clay contains arsenic, but exactly in what proportion we have not yet discovered. Arsenic-eating is common in many parts of the world. It acts as a sedative and also as a stimulant. The mountaineers of Styria, Austria, are habitual arsenic-eaters. They give as their reason for eating it that they are better able to climb the mountains after eating the poison, and their explanation is a perfectly reasonable one, qs arsenic acts as a sedative to the heart’s action. The habit is also prevalent in the Tyrol and in the Alps. “It is also said that the peasant girls of Switzerland and parts of Germany and in Scandinavia eat arsenic to give luster to their eves and color to their cheeks, but this is a matter I have not investigated. It has been shown that arsenic or arsenical fumes are a sure cure for intermittent fever. The inhabitants of a section of Cornwall, England, at one time all suffered with this type of fever, but when the copper works were established there the fever disappeared. This was accounted for by the arsenical fumes created in the treatment of copper. As to whether arsenic-eating shortens life I am not yet prepared to Bay, but I intend investigating the matter thoroughly. ”