Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1914 — Earth Eating. [ARTICLE]

Earth Eating.

Earth eating is a habit often observed in India, and is very widely distributed. It often manifests itself as a symptom of disease or perverted appetite, but among many healthy people it is a regular habit. In addition to India, the Soudan, China and the Malay archipelago are mentioned as places where the custom prevails, but these by no means exhaust the list. It is said that in Siberia and Lapland, earth consisting of the fossilized siliceous shells of diatoms is mixed with meal to make as kind of flour. It is also said that the Ainus of Japan used to eat a paste made of a mixture of diatomaceous earth. The Indians of Guatemala eat a yellowish edible earth containing sulphur, not so much as a food, but as a prophylactic against disease. There are people in Bengal who regard the fine earth of which anthills are built as a . delicacy, and the explanation has been suggested that the flavor is due to a digestive fluid added to the earth by the ants to make it more easily worked.