Hello All,

I came across a few interesting listings related to geophagy (eating
dirt/clay) by various native peoples:

Excerpt from Scientific American (March 23, 1895; page 186)
        http://www.well.com/user/peter/eatdirt.html

All About EAting for Two (U. S. FDA; Mar '84; Revised, Apr '90)
        http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-preg1.html

About.com = Geophagy: Eating Dirt (Dateline: 09/29/97)

http://geography.about.com/science/geography/library/weekly/aa092997.htm

Prof. W.C. Mahaney (from my alma mater, York University)
        http://www.atkinson.yorku.ca/~bmahaney/

A whole bunch of articles and excerpts . . .
        http://www.white-rock.com/research.html

I also came across this bibliographic listing:

        GEOPHAGY IN FAYETTE COUNTY, TENNESSEE: A SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATION.
        Carol L. Jenkins. V(1):73-91. 1980. This paper reviews the literature
on
        geophagy and evaluates three major etiological hypotheses. Data are
        presented from Fayette County, Tennessee, to illustrate the author's
        suggestion that geophagy is retained as a reassuring symbolic act among
        those ethnic groups who experience relatively high infant and maternal
        mortality rates.

I hope these are helpful!

Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum http://www.joslyn.org
2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
402-342-3300     402-342-2376 (fax)

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