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Title: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
Author: Weston A. Price
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No. :  0200251h.html
Language:   English
Date first posted: 2002
Date most recently updated: April 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS    
Nutrition and
Physical Degeneration
A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets
and Their Effects
7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 2/250BY
WESTON A. PRICE, MS., D.D.S., F.A.G.D. Member Research Commission, American Dental Association
Member American Association of Physical Anthropologists
Author, "Dental Infections, Oral and Systemic"
WITH 134 FIGURES
TO THAT KINDRED SOUL
My Wife
who has assisted me so greatly
on these difficult expeditions,
this book is lovingly dedicated. CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
I. Why Seek Wisdom from Primitive Races
II. The Progressive Decline of Modern Civilization
III. Isolated and Modernized Swiss
IV. Isolated and Modernized Gaelics
V. Isolated and Modernized Eskimos
VI. Primitive and Modernized North American Indians
VII. Isolated and Modernized Melanesian s
VIII. Isolated and Modernized Polynesians
IX. Isolated and Modernized African Tribes
X. Isolated and Modernized Australian Aborigines
XI. Isolated and Modernized Torres Strait Islanders
XII. Isolated and Modernized New Zealand Maori
XIII. Ancient Civilizations of Peru
XIV. Isolated and Modernized Peruvian Indians
XV. Characteristics of Primitive and Modernized Dietaries
XVI. Primitive Control of Dental Caries
XVII. One Origin of Physical Deformities
XVIII. Prenatal Nutritional Deformities and Disease Types
XIX. Physical, Mental and Moral Deterioration
XX. Soil Depletion and Plant and Animal Deterioration
XXI. Practical Applications of Primitive Wisdom
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS    7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 3/250 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. LOENTSCHENTAL VALLEY IN SWITZERLAND
2. HAND-MILL USED BY NATIVES IN LOENTSCHENTAL VALLEY
3. NATIVES OF MODERN SWISS VALLEY SHOWING NORMAL DESIGN OF FACE AND
DENTAL ARCHES WHEN ADEQUATE NUTRITION IS PROVIDED
4. NATIVES OF LOENTSCHENTAL VALLEY SHOWING TOOTH DECAY AND
DEFORMED DENTAL ARCHES TYPICAL OF THOSE LIVING ON MODERN FOODS
5. A TYPICAL BLACK-HOUSE" ON THE ISLE OF LEWIS. NATIVES OF THE ISLE OF
LEWIS
6. TOOTH DECAY IN NATIVE OF ISLE OF HARRIS LIVING ON MODERN FOODS AND
EXCELLENT TEETH OF NATIVES LIVING ON PRIMITIVE FOODS
7. GAELIC CHILDREN LIVING ON NATIVE FOODS. GAELIC CHILDREN LIVING ON
MODERN FOODS
8. VARIATIONS IN GROWTH OF OATS FERTILIZED WITH VARYING QUANTITIES OF
SMOKE-THATCH
9. PRIMITIVE ALASKAN ESKIMOS SHOWING EXCELLENT FACIAL AND DENTAL
ARCH FORMATION
10. PRIMITIVE ALASKAN MOTHERS
11. ALASKAN ESKIMOS SHOWING EFFECT ON TEETH OF MODERN FOODS
12. DEFECTIVE TEETH AND DENTAL ARCHES IN ESKIMO CHILDREN LIVING ON
MODERN FOODS
13. DRIED EGGS OF SALMON ARE AN IMPORTANT ITEM OF NUTRITION
14. FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH DEFORMITY IN WHITE BOY BORN IN ALASKA AND
LIVING ON MODERN FOODS
15. FAMILY OF FOREST INDIANS OF NORTHERN CANADA
16. MODERNIZED INDIAN CHILDREN WITH TUBERCULOSIS
17. INDIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS TYPICAL OF THOSE LIVING ON PRIMITIVE FOODS
18. INDIAN WOMEN TYPICAL OF THOSE LIVING ON MODERN FOODS
19. DEFORMED FACIAL FORMATION IN CHILDREN OF FIRST GENERATION AFTER
ADOPTION OF MODERN FOODS BY PARENTS
20. PRIMITIVE INDIANS OF CENTRAL CANADA: PARENTS DEVELOPED ON NATIVE
FOODS, CHILDREN ON MODERN FOODS
21. TYPICAL CRIPPLED CHILDREN FOUND AMONG INDIANS LIVING ON MODERN
FOODS
22. SKULLS OF PRIMITIVE INDIANS SHOWING SUPERB DENTAL ARCHES
23. SKULLS OF PRIMITIVE INDIANS SHOWING EXCELLENT BONE FORMATION
24. SEMINOLE INDIANS, TYPICAL OF THOSE LIVING ON NATIVE FOODS
25. DENTAL CARIES IN SEMINOLE INDIANS LIVING ON MODERN FOODS
26. SEMINOLE INDIAN CHILDREN SHOWING CHANGES IN FACIAL AND DENTAL
ARCH FORM WHICH RESULT FROM MODERN FOODS
27. SKULLS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN INDIANS OF FLORIDA
28. MELANESIANS TYPICAL OF THOSE LIVING UNDER NATIVE CONDITIONS
29. FACIAL BONE FORMATION IN MELANESIANS LIVING ON NATIVE FOODS
30. FIJI COUNCIL HOUSE AND HEREDITARY FIJI MONARCH
31. TOOTH DECAY IN NATIVES OF FIJI ISLANDS LIVING ON IMPORTED FOOD
32. TOOTH DECAY AND CHANGES IN ARCH FORMATION IN FIRST GENERATION
AFTER ADOPTION OF MODERN FOODS
33. PERFECT DENTAL ARCHES OF POLYNESIANS LIVING UNDER NATIVE
CONDITIONS
34. TAHITIANS SHOWING DENTAL CARIES DUE TO IMPORTED FOODS
35. CHANGES IN TEETH AND IN DENTAL ARCH FORMATION OF POLYNESIANS
LIVING ON MODERN FOODS
36. SAMOANS TYPICAL OF EXCELLENT FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH FORMATION
WHEN LIVING ON NATIVE FOODS. CHILDREN WITH FORMATION TYPICAL OF
THOSE BORN OF UNDER-NOURISHED PARENTS
37. HAWAIIAN FAMILY SHOWING CHANGES IN FACIAL FORM IN YOUNGER
CHILDREN OF SAME FAMILY
38. TOOTH DECAY AND TUBERCULOSIS AS A RESULT OF UNDER-NUTRITION IN A
POLYNESIAN GIRL
39. MEMBERS OF MASAI TRIBE ILLUSTRATING EXCELLENT RESULTS OF DIET OF
MEAT, MILK AND BLOOD
40. METHOD BY WHICH BLOOD IS DRAWN FROM STEER7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 4/25041. FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICAN TRIBES LIVING ON
NATIVE FOODS
42. FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH DEVELOPMENT IN MEMBERS OF BELGIAN CONGO
TRIBE LIVING ON NATIVE FOODS
43. PYGMIES OF BELGIAN CONGO
44. DENTAL CARIES IN AFRICANS WHO HAVE ADOPTED MODERN FOODS
45. CHANGES IN FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN OF
FIRST GENERATION AFTER ADOPTION BY PARENTS OF MODERN FOODS
46. AFRICANS SHOWING FACIAL DEFORMITIES DUE TO DIET OF MODERN FOODS
47. AFRICANS SHOWING FACIAL DEFORMITIES IN FIRST GENERATION AFTER
ADOPTION BY PARENTS OF MODERN FOODS
48. AFRICAN CHILDREN SHOWING A MARKED DEPRESSION OF MIDDLE THIRD OF
FACE DUE TO MALNUTRITION OF PARENTS
49. CAMELS' MILK IS AN IMPORTANT ITEM OF NUTRITION IN ASIA AND AFRICA
50. FACIAL DEFORMITIES FOUND IN BOYS AND GIRLS LIVING IN CAIRO UNDER
MODERN CONDITIONS
51. AFRICAN CHILDREN WALKING ON "ALL FOURS"
52. TYPICAL ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA
53. MAGNIFICENT DENTAL ARCHES AND TEETH FOUND IN ABORIGINES
54. DENTAL CARIES IN ABORIGINES LIVING ON MODERN FOODS
55. CHANGES IN TEETH AND ARCH FORMATION IN MODERNIZED ABORIGINES
56. DISTURBANCE IN FACIAL GROWTH IN MODERNIZED ABORIGINES
57. DEFORMITY PATTERNS PRODUCED IN ABORIGINES BY MODERN FOOD
58. EFFECTS OF MALNUTRITION IN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES LIVING ON A
RESERVATION
59. TYPICAL ABORIGINE MOTHERS WITH THEIR CHILDREN
60. COMPARISON OF SKULL OF TYPICAL ABORIGINE WITH THAT OF PEKING MAN
61. INHABITANTS OF ISLANDS NORTH OF AUSTRALIA HAVE SPLENDIDLY BUILT
BODIES WITH FINE FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH FORM
62. COMPARISON OF FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH FORMATION IN NATIVE AND IN
WHITE CHILDREN ON THURSDAY ISLAND
63. GOOD PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF NATIVES OF HAMMOND ISLAND
64. DENTAL ARCHES IN NATIVES ON THE ISLANDS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
65. CONTRAST IN FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH FORM BETWEEN PRIMITIVE AND
MODERNIZED NATIVES
66. DEFORMED DENTAL ARCHES IN WHITE CHILDREN ON THURSDAY ISLAND
67. TOOTH DECAY IN WHITE CHILDREN IN TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS
68. DENTAL CLINIC MAINTAINED BY NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT
69. THE MAORI HAD THE REPUTATION OF HAVING THE FINEST TEETH AND BODIES
OF ANY RACE IN THE WORLD
70. TOOTH DECAY IS FOUND IN MODERNIZED MAORI
71. THE WHITES LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND HAVE POOR TEETH
72. FACIAL DEFORMITIES IN MAORI BORN AFTER ADOPTION OF MODERN FOODS
73. MAORI SKULLS SHOWING FINE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
74. MAORI DEMONSTRATING SOME OF THE ACCESSORY ESSENTIALS OBTAINED
FROM THE SEA
75. TREPHINED SKULLS OF ANCIENT PEOPLES OF PERU
76. TREPHINED SKULLS WITH GOLD PLATES IN POSITION
77. POTTERY JAR DEPICTING ANCIENT PERUVIAN SURGERY. BONE SHOWING
HEALING OF FRACTURE
78. SKULLS OF FISHERMEN OF CHIMU CULTURE
79. ANCIENT AQUEDUCT OF PERU
80. DESCENDANTS OF ANCIENT CHIMUS SHOWING FLATTENING OF BACK OF
HEAD
81. SOME DESCENDANTS OF THE ANCIENT CHIMUS ARE STILL LIVING IN A FEW
FISHING VILLAGES IN THE NORTH OF PERU
82. STONE FORTRESS BUILT BY PRIMITIVE PEOPLE OF ANDEAN SIERRA
83. TYPICAL SKULLS OF HIGH SIERRA INDIANS
84. DESCENDANTS OF THE TAUHUANOCAN INDIANS OF PERU
85. THE QUICHUA INDIANS LIVING IN THE HIGH ANDES ARE DESCENDANTS OF THE
INCAS
86. INDIANS OF THE HIGH ANDES HAVE MAGNIFICENT PHYSIQUES
87. INDIANS OF THE HIGH ANDES HAVE SUPERB FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH
DEVELOPMENT
88. INTRODUCTION OF MODERN FOODS TO SIERRA INDIANS PRODUCED7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 5/250WRECKAGE OF PHYSIQUES
89. JUNGLE INDIANS OF THE AMAZON BASIN
90. FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNGLE INDIANS IS
SUPERB
91. EXCELLENCE OF SKELETAL DEVELOPMENT OF JUNGLE INDIANS AS EXPRESSED
IN FACES AND DENTAL ARCHES
92. A MARKED CHANGE IN FACIAL FORM WITH CROWDING OF TEETH OCCURS IN
JUNGLE INDIANS BORN AFTER ADOPTION OF MODERN FOODS
93. RAPID HEALING OF FRACTURED FEMUR IN BOY SUFFERING FROM
MALNUTRITION, AFTER INSTITUTION OF PROPER NUTRITION
94. IMPROVEMENT ACCOMPLISHED BY PROPER NUTRITION IN BOY SUFFERING
FROM INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATISM
95. EFFECT OF DIFFERENT WHEAT PRODUCTS ON RATS
96. TEETH SHOWING PERMEABILITY OF DECAYED DENTIN TO SILVER NITRATE
97. THREE CASES ILLUSTRATING HOW NATURE CAN CLOSE AN EXPOSURE OF PULP
DUE TO DENTAL CARIES
98. FOUR MELANESIANS BORN ON FOUR DIFFERENT ISLANDS LOOK LIKE
BROTHERS BUT ARE NOT BLOOD RELATIONS
99. FOUR POLYNESIAN GIRLS LIVING ON DIFFERENT ISLANDS ARE NOT RELATED
THOUGH THEY LOOK LIKE SISTERS
100. DISTURBED HEREDITY: TWO PERUVIAN INDIAN FATHERS WITH GOOD
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR SONS WHO SHOW DEFECTS
101. DISTURBED HEREDITY ILLUSTRATED BY FATHER AND SON OF WAKAMBA
TRIBE OF CENTRAL AFRICA
102. DISTURBED HEREDITY IN QUICHA INDIANS
103. DISTURBED HEREDITY IN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES
104. TWO MAORI SISTERS, AND TWO WHITE SISTERS IN PERU, SHOWING FACIAL
CHANGES THAT MAY OCCUR IN SAME GENERATION WITH CHANGE FROM
PRIMITIVE TO MODERN DIET BY PARENTS
105. SIX BROTHERS SHOWING FACIAL CHANGES IN SAME GENERATION DUE TO
CHANGE FROM PRIMITIVE TO MODERN FOODS BY PARENTS
106. CHANGE IN FACIAL FORM IN TWO YOUNGER BROTHERS, CORRESPONDING TO
CHANGE IN DIET BY PARENTS
107. NATIVES FROM ISLANDS NORTH OF AUSTRALIA SHOWING PROGRESSIVE
FACIAL CHANGE IN SAME FAMILY DUE TO CHANGE IN FOODS
108. WHITE GIRLS IN NEW ZEALAND ILLUSTRATE PROGRESSIVE LENGTHENING AND
NARROWING OF FACE AND HIPS
109. NEW ZEALAND MAORI ILLUSTRATING PROGRESSIVE CHANGE IN FACIAL FORM
OF TWO YOUNGER BOYS
110. NEW ZEALAND MAORI ILLUSTRATING MARKED UNDERSIZE AND DEFORMITY
OF FEET IN SECOND CHILD IN FAMILY
111. MODERNIZED PERUVIAN INDIAN BOY SHOWING DISTURBED DEVELOPMENT OF
FACE AND FOOT
112. MODERNIZED COASTAL INDIAN OF ECUADOR SHOWING SERIOUS PHYSICAL
DEFORMITIES
113. ESKIMO CHILDREN ILL IN TUBERCULOSIS WARD OF THE GOVERNMENT
HOSPITAL AT JUNEAU
114. PATIENTS IN THE MAORI HOSPITAL IN NEW ZEALAND SHOWING MARKED
FACIAL UNDER-DEVELOPMENT
115. GIRLS IN TUBERCULOSIS WARD OF NEW ZEALAND HOSPITAL FOR MAORI
SHOW MARKED FACIAL AND DENTAL ARCH DISTURBANCES
116. NATIVE HAWAIIAN CHILDREN WITH TUBERCULOSIS, SHOWING MARKED
DISTURBANCES OF FACIAL FORM AND DENTAL ARCH DEVELOPMENT
117. DEFORMITIES OF PIG DUE TO LACK OF VITAMIN A IN MOTHERS DIET
118. DEFORMITIES DUE TO LACK OF ADEQUATE VITAMIN A IN MOTHERS DIET
119. MANY YOUNG OF MODERN DOMESTIC ANIMALS ARE BORN WITH
DEFORMITIES
120. PUPPIES BORN WITH PHYSICAL DEFECTS DUE TO DEFICIENCY OF VITAMIN A IN
FATHER
121. TYPICAL DEFORMITIES IN DOMESTIC ANIMALS
122. CRIMINALS. WERE THEIR UNSOCIAL TRAITS RELATED TO INCOMPLETE BRAIN
ORGANIZATION ASSOCIATED WITH PRENATAL INJURY
123. MARKED LACK OF NORMAL FACIAL DEVELOPMENT IN NOTORIOUS YOUNG
CRIMINALS
124. TYPICAL MONGOLOID DEFECTIVE7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 6/250125. PHYSICAL CHANGES IN MONGOLOID TYPE DUE TO MOVEMENT OF MAXILLARY
BONES TO STIMULATE PITUITARY GLAND IN BASE OF BRAIN
126. X-RAY PICTURES SHOWING POSITION OF TEETH BEFORE AND DURING
OPERATION TO MOVE MAXILLARY BONES
127. TWIN BOYS WITH SAME DEFORMITY OF DENTAL ARCH
128. BOYS TYPICAL OF GROUP IN SPECIAL SCHOOL FOR BACKWARD CHILDREN
129. FIJI WOMAN WHO HAS GONE LONG DISTANCE TO GATHER SPECIAL FOOD
NEEDED FOR PRODUCTION OF HEALTHY CHILDREN
130. AFRICAN WOMAN WHO HAS COME DOWN THE MOUNTAINS TO GATHER
SPECIAL PLANTS OF WHICH THE ASHES PREVENT GOITER
131. X-RAYS OF TEETH OF THREE CHILDREN IN ONE FAMILY SHOW PROGRESSIVE
INJURY IN YOUNGER CHILDREN
132. X-RAYS ILLUSTRATING PROGRESSIVE INJURY IN TWO YOUNGER CHILDREN IN
FAMILY
133. X-RAYS COMPARING DEFORMITIES OF FACIAL FORM IN CHILD BORN AFTER
LONG LABOR WITH BETTER FACIAL FORM IN SISTER BORN AFTER SHORT
LABOR
134. GIRL SHOWING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LACK OF PELVIC DEVELOPMENT AND
DEFORMITY OF FACE
 
MAPS
I.  CANADA
II. SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
III. AFRICA
IV. AUSTRALIA
V. NEW ZEALAND
VI. PERU
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS   
 
PREFACE
THE gracious reception given to my several reports of field studies among primitive racial groups
and the many requests for copies of those brief reports and for further data, together with the need
for providing interpretations and applications of the data, have induced me to consolidate my
investigations. There have also been many requests from my patients and from members of the
medical and dental professions for concise statements as to what I have found that would be useful
as preventive procedures. In addition I have been conscious of an opportunity for helpfulness to
the members of the various primitive races that I have studied and who are so rapidly declining in
health and numbers at their point of contact with our modern civilization. Since they have so much
accumulated wisdom that is passing with them, it has seemed important that the elements in the
modern contacts that are so destructive to them should be discovered and removed. There has been a deep sense of obligation to the officials of many countries for the great
kindness and assistance that they have so cheerfully given by providing the opportunity for these
investigations. The list of these individuals is much too long to mention them all by name. One of
the joys of my work has been the privilege of knowing the magnificent characters that are at the
outposts earnestly striving to better the welfare of the natives whom they are ministering to, but
who are distraught with the recognition that under the modernization program the natives decline in
health and become afflicted by our modern types of degenerative diseases. It would be fortunate if
each of these field workers could be provided with a copy of this report which they have helped to
make possible.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 7/250    In order to make this information available to as wide a group as possible, I have avoided
technical language and will ask the indulgence of professional readers. There are some individuals whose assistance I must acknowledge specifically: Reverend Father
John Siegen and Doctor Alfred Gysi of Switzerland; Mrs. Lulu Herron and Doctor J. Romig of
Alaska; the Indian Department at Ottawa; the Department of Indian Affairs at Washington, D. C.;
the officials of the eight archipelagos studied in the Pacific; Colonel J. L. Saunders of New
Zealand; the Minister of Health, New Zealand; Dr. W. Stewart Ziele of Sydney, Australia; Sir
Herbert Gepp of Melbourne, Australia; Doctor William M. Hughes, Minister of Health, Canberra;
Dr. Cummiston, Director-General of Health, Australian Commonwealth, Canberra; Doctor Rapael
Cilento of Queensland, Australia; Mr. E. W. Saranealis, Thursday Island; the Department of
Health of Kenya, Africa; the Department of Health for Belgian Congo, Brussells; the Department
of National Parks, Belgian Congo; Minister of the Interior, Peru; Doctor Albert Giesecke and
Esther Giesecke of Peru; the Directors of Museums in Sydney and Canberra, Australia; Auckland,
New Zealand; Vancouver, and Toronto, Canada; Washington, New York and Chicago, the
United States; Juneau, Alaska; Rome, Italy; and Cairo, Egypt; the publishers of the Ohio State
Medical Journal, the Journal of the American Dental Association, the Dental Digest and the Dental
Items of Interest; my faithful secretary, Mrs. Ruth MacMaster; Professor W. G. Garnett who so
kindly provided the critical reading of the manuscript, and the publishers who furnished
constructive suggestions and cooperation. To these and a host of others I am deeply indebted and
profoundly grateful. WESTON A. PRICE        
8926 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland, Ohio, 1938. TABLE OF CONTENTS   
 
INTRODUCTION
THIS text provides a new approach to some problems of modern degeneration. Instead of the
customary procedure of analyzing the expressions of degeneration, a search has been made for
groups to be used as controls who are largely free from these affections. After spending several years approaching this problem by both clinical and laboratory research
methods, I interpreted the accumulating evidence as strongly indicating the absence of some
essential factors from our modern program, rather than the presence of injurious factors. This
immediately indicated the need for obtaining controls. To accomplish this it became necessary to
locate immune groups which were found readily as isolated remnants of primitive racial stocks in
different parts of the world. A critical examination of these groups revealed a high immunity to
many of our serious affections so long as they were sufficiently isolated from our modern
civilization and living in accordance with the nutritional programs which were directed by the
accumulated wisdom of the group. In every instance where individuals of the same racial stocks
who had lost this isolation and who had adopted the foods and food habits of our modern
civilization were examined, there was an early loss of the high immunity characteristics of the
isolated group. These studies have included a chemical analysis of foods of the isolated groups and
also of the displacing foods of our modern civilization. These investigations have been made among the following primitive racial stocks including both
isolated and modernized groups: the Swiss of Switzerland, the Gaelics in the Outer and Inner7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 8/250Hebrides, the Eskimos of Alaska, the Indians in the far North, West and Central Canada, Western
United States and Florida, the Melanesians and Polynesians on eight archipelagos of the Southern
Pacific, tribes in eastern and central Africa, the Aborigines of Australia, Malay tribes on islands
north of Australia, the Maori of New Zealand and the ancient civilizations and their descendants in
Peru both along the coast and in the Sierras, also in the Amazon Basin. Where available the
modernized whites in these communities also were studied. There have been many important
unexpected developments in these investigations. While a primary quest was to find the cause of
tooth decay which was established quite readily as being controlled directly by nutrition, it rapidly
became apparent that a chain of disturbances developed in these various primitive racial stocks
starting even in the first generation after the adoption of the modernized diet and rapidly increased
in severity with expressions quite constantly like the characteristic degenerative processes of our
modern civilization of America and Europe. While tooth decay has proved to be almost entirely a
matter of the nutrition of the individual at the time and prior to the activity of that disease, a group
of affections have expressed themselves in physical form. These have included facial and dental
arch changes which, heretofore, have been accounted for as results of admixtures of different racial
stocks. My investigations have revealed that these same divergencies from normal are reproduced
in all these various racial stocks while the blood is still pure. Indeed, these even develop in those
children of the family that are born after the parents adopted the modern nutrition. Applying these methods of study to our American families, we find readily that a considerable
percentage of our families show this same deterioration in the younger members. The percentage
of individuals so affected in our American communities in which I have made studies varies through
a wide range, usually between 25 per cent to 75 per cent. A certain percentage of this affected
group has not only these evidences of physical injury, but also personality disturbances, the most
common of which is a lower than normal mental efficiency and acuteness, chiefly observed as so-
called mental backwardness which includes the group of children in the schools who are unable to
keep up with their classmates. Their I.Q. 's are generally lower than normal and they readily
develop inferiority complexes growing out of their handicap. From this group or parallel with it a
certain percentage develop personality disturbances which have their expression largely in unsocial
traits. They include the delinquents who at this time are causing so much trouble and concern
because of evidence of increase in their numbers. This latter group has been accounted for largely
on the basis of some conditioning experience that developed after the child had reached an
impressionable age. My investigations are revealing a physical structural change and therefore, an
organic factor which precedes and underlies these conditioning influences of the environment. The
fact that a government survey has shown that 66 per cent of the delinquents who have been treated
in the best institutions and released as cured, later have developed their unsocial or criminal
tendencies, strongly emphasizes the urgent necessity that if preventive methods are to be applied
these must precede and forestall the primary injuries themselves. While it has been known that certain injuries were directly related to an inadequate nutrition of
the mother during the formative period of the child, my investigations are revealing evidence that
the problem goes back still further to defects in the germ plasms as contributed by the two parents. These injuries, therefore, are related directly to the physical condition of one or of both of these
individuals prior to the time that conception took place. A very important phase of my investigations has been the obtaining of information from these
various primitive racial groups indicating that they were conscious that such injuries would occur if
the parents were not in excellent physical condition and nourishment. Indeed, in many groups I
found that the girls were not allowed to be married until after they had had a period of special
feeding. In some tribes a six months period of special nutrition was required before marriage. An
examination of their foods has disclosed special nutritional factors which are utilized for this
purpose. The scope of this work, accordingly, becomes of direct interest in many fields including the
various branches of the healing arts, particularly medicine and dentistry, and the social
organizations that are concerned with betterment of the racial stock. Similarly, the educational7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 9/250groups are concerned directly since, if we are to stem the tide by passing new information on to
the parents of the new generation, it must be done prior to the time the emergency shall arise. This
involves a system of education directed particularly to the high school age pupils. The data that are being presented in the following chapters suggest the need for reorientation in
many problems of our modern social organization. The forces involved in heredity have in general
been deemed to be so powerful as to be able to resist all impacts and changes in the environment. These data will indicate that much that we have interpreted as being due to heredity is really the
result of intercepted heredity. While great emphasis has been placed on the influence of the
environment on the character of the individual, the body pattern has generally been supposed to
require a great number of impacts of a similar nature to alter the design. The brain has been
assumed to be similarly well organized in most individuals except that incidents in the life of the
individual such as disappointments, fright, etc., are largely responsible for disturbed behavior. Normal brain functioning has not been thought of as being as biologic as digestion. The data
provided in the succeeding chapters indicate that associated with disturbances in the development
of the bones of the head, disturbances may at the same time occur in the development of the brain. Such structural defects usually are not hereditary factors even though they appear in other
members of the family or parents. They are products of the environment rather than hereditary
units transmitted from the ancestry. In the light of these data important new emphasis is placed on the quality of the germ cells of the
two parents as well as on the environment provided by the mother. The new evidence indicates
that the paternal contribution may be an injured product and that the responsibility for defective
germ cells may have to be about equally divided between the father and mother. The blending of
races has been blamed for much of the distortion and defects in body form in our modern
generation. It will be seen that these face changes occur in all the pure blood races studied in even
the first generation, after the nutrition of the parents has been changed. The origin of personality and character appear in the light of the newer data to be biologic
products and to a much less degree than usually considered pure hereditary traits. Since these
various factors are biologic, being directly related to both the nutrition of the parents and to the
nutritional environment of the individuals in the formative and growth period any common
contributing factor such as food deficiencies due to soil depletion will be seen to produce
degeneration of the masses of people due to a common cause. Mass behavior therefore, in this
new light becomes the result of natural forces, the expression of which may not be modified by
propaganda but will require correction at the source. Nature has been at this process of building
human cultures through many millenniums and our culture has not only its own experience to draw
from but that of parallel races living today as well as those who lived in the past. This work,
accordingly, includes data that have been obtained from several of Nature's other biologic
experiments to throw light on the problems of our modern white civilization. In presenting the evidence I am utilizing photographs very liberally. A good illustration is said to
be equivalent to a thousand words of text. This is in keeping too with the recent trend in
journalism. The pictures are much more convincing than words can be, and since the text
challenges many of the current theories, the most conclusive evidence available is essential. Owing to the many requests received for slides or the loan of my negatives, provision is being
made for supplying a limited number of slides of the illustrations in either black and white or in
color. Slides of other subjects are available. TABLE OF CONTENTS   
 7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 10/250Chapter 1
WHY SEEK WISDOM FROM PRIMITIVE PEOPLES
SOME of the primitive races have avoided certain of the life problems faced by modernized
groups and the methods and knowledge used by the primitive peoples are available to assist
modernized individuals in solving their problems. Many primitive races have made habitual use of
certain preventive measures in meeting crucial life problems. Search for controls among remnants of primitive racial stocks has been resorted to as a result of
failure to find them in our modernized groups or to find the controlling factors by applying
laboratory methods to the affected clinical material. Only the primitive groups have been able to
provide adequate normal controls. In the following chapters, I have presented descriptions of certain peoples and their
environments in primitive state, and, for comparative study, descriptions of members of the
primitive tribes who have been in contact with modernized white races. I have recorded the effects
of that contact as expressed in physical and character changes, and have given a survey of the
factors in the environment which have changed. It has been necessary to study in this way a wide
variety of primitive groups and physical environments. It will, accordingly, be advisable for the
reader to keep in mind the comparative effects of different altitudes, latitudes, temperatures and
races, and to note the similarity of the reactions of these primitive groups when contact is made
with our modern civilization. The purpose is to glean data that will be applicable for use in
correcting certain tragic expressions of our modern degeneration, including tooth decay, general
physical degeneration, and facial and dental-arch deformities, and character changes. These data
will be useful in preventing race decay and deformities, in establishing a higher resistance to
infective diseases, and in reducing the number of prenatal deficiency injuries. These latter include
such expressions as mental deficiencies caused by brain defects in the formative period, which
result in mental disturbances ranging from moderate backwardness to character abnormalities. The data presented show the level of susceptibility to dental caries (tooth decay) in each
isolated primitive group and, contrasted with that, the level of susceptibility in the modernized
natives of the same stock. A résumé of the changes in the environment that are associated with the
changes in immunity and susceptibility will be presented. These data reveal an average increase in
susceptibility of thirty-five fold. Similar contrasts are shown in relation to the relative incidence of
facial and dental arch deformities among primitive natives and modernized natives. It will be easy for the reader to be prejudiced since many of the applications suggested are not
orthodox. I suggest that conclusions be deferred until the new approach has been used to survey
the physical and mental status of the reader's own family, of his brothers and sisters, of associated
families, and finally, of the mass of people met in business and on the street. Almost everyone who
studies the matter will be surprised that such clear-cut evidence of a decline in modern
reproductive efficiency could be all about us and not have been previously noted and reviewed. It is important to preface the observations by constructing a mental pattern of physical
excellence from the pictures of the various primitive groups and, with this yardstick or standard of
normalcy, observe our modern patterns. Certain preconceived ideas may have to be modified, as
for example, that based on the belief that what we see is due to heredity or that deformity is due to
mixing of races. If so, why should the last child in a large family generally suffer most, and often be
different in facial form; or why should there be these changes in the later children, even in pure
racial stocks, after the parents have adopted our modern types of nutrition? Although the causes of
physical degeneration that can be seen easily have been hard to trace, the defects in the
development of the brain, which affect the mind and character, are much more obscure, and the
causes of mental degeneration are exceedingly difficult to trace. Much that formerly has been left to
the psychiatrist to explain is now rapidly shifting to the realm of the anatomist and physiologist.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 11/250    Those contributions of the past cultures which have blended agreeably into our modern
experience have been accepted with too little questioning. Much ancient wisdom, however, has
been rejected because of prejudice against the wisdom of so-called savages. Some readers may
experience this reaction to the primitive wisdom recorded in these chapters. The writer is fully aware that his message is not orthodox; but since our orthodox theories have
not saved us we may have to readjust them to bring them into harmony with Nature's laws. Nature
must be obeyed, not orthodoxy. Apparently many primitive races have understood her language
better than have our modernized groups. Even the primitive races share our blights when they
adopt our conception of nutrition. The supporting evidence for this statement is voluminous and as
much of it as space permits is included in this volume. The illustrative material used is taken from
the many thousands of my negatives which are available. Photographs alone can tell much of the
story, and one illustration is said to be worth as much as one thousand words. Since the problem of applying the wisdom of the primitives to our modern needs concerns not
only health workers and nutritionists, but also educators and social workers, the data are
presented without technical details. While many of the primitive races studied have continued to thrive on the same soil through
thousands of years, our American human stock has declined rapidly within a few centuries, and in
some localities within a few decades. In the regions in which degeneration has taken place the
animal stock has also declined. A decadent individual cannot regenerate himself, although he can
reduce the progressive decadence in the next generation, or can vastly improve that generation, by
using the demonstrated wisdom of the primitive races. No era in the long journey of mankind
reveals in the skeletal remains such a terrible degeneration of teeth and bones as this brief modern
period records. Must Nature reject our vaunted culture and call back the more obedient
primitives? The alternative seems to be a complete readjustment in accordance with the controlling
forces of Nature. Thinking is as biologic as is digestion, and brain embryonic defects are as biologic as are club
feet. Since both are readily produced by lowered parental reproductive capacity, and since Nature
in her large-scale human demonstration reveals that this is chiefly the result of inadequate nutrition
of the parents and too frequent or too prolonged child bearing, the way back is indicated. Like the
successful primitive racial stocks, we, too, can make, as a first requisite, provision for adequate
nutrition both for generation and growth, and can make provision for the regulation of the
overloads. We, like the successful primitives, can establish programs of instruction for growing
youth and acquaint it with Nature s requirements long before the emergencies and stresses arise. This may require a large-scale program of home and classroom instruction, particularly for the high
school girls and boys. This would be in accordance with the practice of many of the primitive races
reported upon in the following chapters. If the individuals in our modern society who are sufficiently defective to require some
supervision are in part or largely the product of an injured parentage, who should be held
responsible? Is it just for society to consign these unsocial individuals which it has made to a life of
hard labor or confinement in depressing environments? Is it just for society to permit production of
physical and mental cripples? Many primitive races apparently have prevented the distortions
which find expressions in unsocial acts. If so, cannot modern society do this by studying and
adopting the programs developed through centuries of experience by the primitives? Nature uses a
written language which, without the keys, is made up of meaningless hieroglyphics, but which, with
the proper keys, becomes a clear story of racial and individual history. The hieroglyphics indicate
racial and individual disaster for modernized groups who heed not the warning story. The primitive
races have some of these keys and have used them successfully in avoiding many of the disasters
of our modern society. The following chapters record many of the excellent practices of the
primitives and they are presented here with the hope that they will be helpful in a program designed
to relieve mankind of some of the misfortunes common in the present social order and to prevent
disorders for future generations of civilized peoples.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 12/250 
  
TABLE OF CONTENTS    
 
Chapter 2
THE PROGRESSIVE DECLINE OF MODERN CIVILIZATION
THAT modern man is declining in physical fitness has been emphasized by many eminent
sociologists and other scientists. That the rate of degeneration is progressively accelerating
constitutes a cause for great alarm, particularly since this is taking place in spite of the advance that
is being made in modern science along many lines of investigation. Dr. Alexis Carrel in his treatise "Man, the Unknown" states:
    Medicine is far from having decreased human sufferings as much as it endeavors to make us
believe. Indeed, the number of deaths from infectious diseases has greatly diminished. But we
still must die in a much larger proportion from degenerative diseases. After reviewing the reduction in the epidemic infectious diseases he continues as follows:
    All diseases of bacterial origin have decreased in a striking manner. . . . Nevertheless, in spite
of the triumphs of medical science, the problem of disease is far from solved. Modern man is
delicate. Eleven hundred thousand persons have to attend the medical needs of 120,000,000
other persons. Every year, among this population of the United States, there are about
100,000,000 illnesses, serious or slight. In the hospitals, 700,000 beds are occupied every day of
the year. . . . Medical care, under all its forms, costs about $3,500,000,000 yearly. . . . The
organism seems to have become more susceptible to degenerative diseases. The present health condition in the United States is reported from time to time by several
agencies representing special phases of the health program. The general health problem has been
thoroughly surveyed and interpreted by the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health
Service, Dr. Parran. Probably no one is so well informed in all of the phases of health as is the
head of this important department of the government. In his recent preliminary report (1) to state
and local officers for their information and guidance, he presented data that have been gathered by
a large group of government workers. The report includes a census of the health conditions of all
the groups constituting the population of the United States--records of the health status and of the
economic status of 2,660,000 individuals living in various sections, in various types of communities,
on various economic levels. The data include records on every age-group. He makes the following
interpretations based upon the assumption that the 2,660,000 offer a fair sampling of the
population, and he indicates the conclusions which may be drawn regarding conditions of status for
the total population of some 130,000,000 people. Every day one out of twenty people is too sick to go to school or work, or attend his
customary activities. Every man, woman and child (on the average) in the nation suffers ten days of incapacity
annually. The average youngster is sick in bed seven days of the year, the average oldster 35 days. Two million five hundred thousand people (42 per cent of the 6,000,000 sick every day) suffer
from chronic diseases-heart disease, hardening of the arteries, rheumatism, and nervous
diseases. Sixty-five thousand people are totally deaf; 75,000 more are deaf and dumb; 200,000 lack a
hand, arm, foot or leg; 300,000 have permanent spinal injuries; 500,000 are blind; 1,000,000 more
are permanent cripples.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 13/250    Two persons on the Relief income level (less than $1,000 yearly income for the entire family)
are disabled for one week or longer for every one person better off economically. Only one in 250 family heads in the income group of more than $2,000 yearly cannot seek work
because of chronic disability. In Relief families one in every 20 family heads is disabled. Relief and low-income families are sick longer as well as more often than better-financed
families. They call doctors less often. But the poor, especially in big cities, get to stay in
hospitals longer than their better-off neighbors. Concluded Dr. Parran:
    It is apparent that inadequate diet, poor housing, the hazards of occupation and the instability
of the labor market definitely create immediate health problems. It will be seen from this report that the group expressed as oldsters, who spend on an average
thirty-five days per year in bed, are sick in bed one-tenth of the time. Those of us who are well,
who may have been so fortunate as to spend very little time in bed, will contemplate this fact with
considerable concern since it expresses a vast amount of suffering and enforced idleness. It is clear
that so great an incidence of morbidity must place a heavy load upon those who at the time are
well. The problem of the progressive increase in percentage of individuals affected with heart
disease and cancer is adequate cause for alarm. Statistics have been published by the Department
of Public Health in New York City which show the increase in the incidence of heart disease to
have progressed steadily during the years from 1907 to 1936. The figures provided in their report
reveal an increase from 203.7 deaths per 100,000 in 1907 to 327.2 per 100,000 in 1936. This
constitutes an increase of 60 per cent. Cancer increased 90 per cent from 1907 to 1936. That this problem of serious degeneration of our modern civilization is not limited to the people
of the United States has been commented on at length by workers in many countries. Sir
Arbuthnot Lane, one of England's distinguished surgeons, and a student of public welfare, has
made this comment: (2)
   Long surgical experience has proved to me conclusively that there is something radically and
fundamentally wrong with the civilized mode of life, and I believe that unless the present dietetic
and health customs of the White Nations are reorganized, social decay and race deterioration
are inevitable. The decline in white population that is taking place in many communities throughout several
countries illustrates the widespread working of the forces that are responsible for this degeneration. In discussing this matter in its relation to Australia, S. R. Wolstenhole, (3) lecturer in economics at
Sydney University, predicts that:
    A decline in Australia's population is inevitable within 40 years because of the absence of a
vigorous population policy. Students of our modern social problems are recognizing that these problems are not limited to
health conditions which we have been accustomed to think of as bodily diseases. This is illustrated
in a recent discussion by Will Durant: (4)
   The American people are face to face with at least 4 major and militant problems that have to
do with the continuity and worthwhile progress of modern civilization:
1. The threatened deterioration of our stock. 2. The purchasing power of our people must rise as fast as the power to procure. . . . 3. The third problem is moral. A civilization depends upon morals for a social and
governmental order. . . . 4. The sources of statesmanship are drying up. . . . Dental caries or tooth decay is recognized as affecting more individuals throughout the so-called
civilized world today than any other affection. In the United States, England and Europe
examinations of highly modernized groups, consisting of several million individuals, reveal the fact
that from 85 to 100 per cent of the individuals in various communities are suffering from this
affection. As a contributing factor to absence from school among children it leads all other7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 14/250affections. From the standpoint of injury to health, it has been estimated by many to be the most
serious contributing factor through its involvement of other organs of the body. The Honorable J. A. Young, Minister of Health of New Zealand, strongly emphasized that the insidiousness of the
effect of dental disease lies in the fact that it is the forerunner of other far-reaching disturbances and
he has referred to the seriousness with which it is viewed in England as follows: "Sir George
Newman, Principal Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health in Great Britain, has said that 'dental
disease is one of the chief, if not the chief, cause of the ill health of the people.'" Dr. Earnest A. Hooton, of Harvard University, has emphasized the importance of oral sepsis and
the task of stopping tooth decay. In closing Chapter VII of his recent book "Apes, Men and
Morons," (5)  he states the case as follows:
    I firmly believe that the health of humanity is at stake, and that, unless steps are taken to
discover preventives of tooth infection and correctives of dental deformation, the course of
human evolution will lead downward to extinction. . . . The facts that we must face are, in brief,
that human teeth and the human mouth have become, possibly under the influence of
civilization, the foci of infections that undermine the entire bodily health of the species and that
degenerative tendencies in evolution have manifested themselves in modern man to such an
extent that our jaws are too small for the teeth which they are supposed to accommodate, and
that, as a consequence, these teeth erupt so irregularly that their fundamental efficiency is often
entirely or nearly destroyed. In discussing the strategic situation of dental science, Dr. Hooton states. In my opinion there is one and only one course of action which will check the increase of
dental disease and degeneration which may ultimately cause the extinction of the human
species. This is to elevate the dental profession to a plane on which it can command the
services of our best research minds to study the causes and seek for the cures of these dental
evils. . . . The dental practitioner should equip himself to become the agent of an intelligent
control of human evolution, insofar as it is affected by diet. Let us go to the ignorant savage,
consider his way of eating, and be wise. Let us cease pretending that tooth-brushes and tooth-
paste are any more important than shoe-brushes and shoe-polish. It is store food which has
given us store teeth. Students of history have continually commented upon the superior teeth of the so-called savages
including the human types that have preceded our modernized groups. While dental caries has
been found occasionally in several animal species through the recent geologic ages, the teeth of the
human species have been comparatively free from dental caries. Primitive human beings have been
freer from the disease than has contemporary animal life. This absence of tooth decay among
primitive races has been so striking a characteristic of human kind that many commentators have
referred to it as a strikingly modern disease. Dryer, (6)  in discussing dental caries in the pre-historic South Africans, makes this comment:
    In not one of a very large collection of teeth from skulls obtained in the Matjes River Shelter
(Holocene) was there the slightest sign of dental caries. The indication from this area, therefore,
bears out the experience of European anthropologists that caries is a comparatively modern
disease and that no skull showing this condition can be regarded as ancient. In connection with the studies reported in this volume, it is of particular importance that a desire
to find the cause of dental caries was the primary reason for undertaking these investigations. Since
it was exceedingly difficult to find in our modern social organization any large group with relatively
high immunity to dental caries, a search was made for such control groups among remnants of
primitive racial stocks that could also be examined at the point of contact with modern civilization
in order that the changes associated with their racial loss of immunity might be noted. Probably few
problems with which our modern social groups are concerned have been so inadequately
understood not only by the laity, but by the members of the medical and dental professions as has
this problem of the cause of dental caries. The problem of correcting dental arch deformities and thereby improving facial form has
developed a specialty in dentistry known as "orthodontia." The literature dealing with the cause of
facial deformities is now voluminous. The blending of racial stocks that differ radically in facial form7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 15/250has been said by many to be the chief factor contributing to the creation of deformities of the face. Crowded teeth have been said to be due to the inheritance of the large teeth of one parent and the
small bone formation of the other and that such inheritances would provide dental arches that are
too small for the teeth that have been made for them. A more general explanation for certain types
of deformity, particularly for the protruding of the upper teeth over the lower, is that they result
from thumb sucking, which tends to bring the upper arch forward and to depress the lower. Among the other contributing factors named have been faulty sleeping and breathing habits. To
these has been assigned much of the blame. This problem of facial form, as well as that of bodily
design, including dental arch design, is so directly a problem of growth, not only of individuals, but
of races themselves, that certain laws have been very definitely worked out by physical
anthropologists as laws of development. They have assumed that changes in physical type can
occur only through the impact of changes in the environment which have affected a great number of
generations. It is important to keep this viewpoint in mind as the succeeding chapters are read, for
they contain descriptions of many changes in physical form that have occurred routinely in the
various racial groups, even during the first generation after the parents have adopted the foods of
modern civilization. Many of our modern writers have recognized and have emphasized the seriousness of mental
and moral degeneration. Laird has made a splendid contribution under the title "The Tail That
Wags the Nation," (7)  in which he states:
    The country's average level of general ability sinks lower with each generation. Should the
ballot be restricted to citizens able to take care of themselves? One out of four cannot. . . . The
tail is now wagging Washington, and Wall St. and LaSalle Street. . . . Each generation has seen
some lowering of the American average level of general ability. In Laird's analysis of our present situation he has stressed a very important phase. While
emphasizing that the degeneration is not limited to restricted areas, he raises the question as to
whether local conditions in certain areas play important roles in the rate and extent to which
degeneration has taken place. He says further, (7)
   Although we might cite any one of nearly two dozen states, we will first mention Vermont by
name because that is the place studied by the late Dr. Pearce Bailey. "It would be," he wrote,
"safe to assume that there are at least 30 defectives per 1000 in Vermont of the eight-year-old
mentality type, and 300 per 1000 of backward or retarded persons, persons of distinctly inferior
intelligence. In other words, nearly one-third of the whole population of that state is of a type to
require some supervision." The problem of lowered mentality and its place in our modern conception of bodily diseases has
not been placed on a physical basis as have the better understood degenerative processes, with
their direct relationship to a diseased organ, but has generally been assigned to a realm entirely
outside the domain of disease or injury of a special organ or tissue. Edward Lee Thorndike, (8) of
Columbia University, says that "thinking is as biological as digestion." This implies that a
disturbance in the capacity to think is directly related to a defect in the brain. Another of the distinguished students of mental capacity, J. B. Miner, (9)  states:
   If morality and intellect are finally demonstrated to be correlated throughout the whole range
of individual differences, it is probably the most profoundly significant fact with which society
has to deal. The origin of backwardness in a child seems to have been assigned very largely to some
experience in that child's life which becomes a conditioning factor and which thereafter strongly
influences his behavior. The problem of the relation of physical defects to delinquency in its various
phases, including major crime, constitutes one of the most alarming aspects of our modern
problems in social degeneration. Chassell (10) has made an exhaustive study of the reports from
workers in different fields in several countries and summarizes her finding as follows: "The
correlation between delinquency and mental inferiority as found in the case of feeble-minded
groups is clearly positive, and tends to be marked in degree. "7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 16/250   Burt, (11) who had made an extensive study, over an extended period, of the problems of the
backward child and the delinquent child in London, states in his summary and conclusion with
regard to the origin of backwardness in the child:
    Both at London and at Birmingham between 60 and 70 per cent belong to the (innately) "dull"
category. . . . In the majority the outstanding cause is a general inferiority of intellectual
capacity, presumably inborn and frequently hereditary. In discussing the relationship between general physical weakness and the mentally backward, he
writes:
    Old and time-honoured as it must seem to the schoolmaster, the problem of the backward
child has never been attacked by systematic research until quite recently. We know little about
causes, and still less about treatment. . . . Thirdly, though the vast majority of backward
children--80 per cent in an area like London--prove to be suffering from minor bodily ailments or
from continued ill-health, nevertheless general physical weakness is rarely the main factor. Among the many surveys made in the study of the forces that are responsible for producing
delinquency and criminality, practically all the workers in this field have testified to the obscure
nature of those forces. Burt (12) says that, "it is almost as though crime were some contagious
disease, to which the constitutionally susceptible were suddenly exposed at puberty, or to which
puberty left them peculiarly prone." He emphasizes a relationship between delinquency and
physical deficiency:
    Most repeated offenders are far from robust; they are frail, sickly, and infirm. Indeed, so
regularly is chronic moral disorder associated with chronic physical disorder that many have
contended that crime is a disease, or at least a symptom of disease, needing the doctor more
than the magistrate, physic rather than the whip. . . . . . . . The frequency among juvenile delinquents of bodily weakness and ill health has been
remarked by almost every recent writer. In my own series of cases nearly 70 per cent were
suffering from such defects; and nearly 50 per cent were in urgent need of medical treatment. . . . Of all the psychological causes of crime, the commonest and the gravest is usually alleged to be
defective mind. The most eminent authorities, employing the most elaborate methods of
scientific analysis, have been led to enunciate some such belief. In England, for example, Dr.
Goring has affirmed that "the one vital mental constitutional factor in the etiology of crime is
defective intelligence." In Chicago, Dr. Healy has likewise maintained that among the personal
characteristics of the offender "mental deficiency forms the largest single cause of
delinquency." And most American investigators would agree. The assertion of the obscurity of the fundamental causative factors of delinquency constitutes
one of the most striking aspects of the extensive literature that has been accumulated through the
reporting of intensive studies made by workers in many countries. Thrasher, (13)  in discussing the nature and origin of gangs, expresses this very clearly:
    Gangs are gangs, wherever they are found. They represent a specific type or variety of
society, and one thing that is particularly interesting about them is the fact that they are, in
respect to their organization, so elementary, and in respect to their origin, so spontaneous. Formal society is always more or less conscious of the end for which it exists, and the
organization through which this end is achieved is always more or less a product of design. But
gangs grow like weeds, without consciousness of their aims, and without administrative
machinery to achieve them. They are, in fact, so spontaneous in their origin, and so little
conscious of the purposes for which they exist, that one is tempted to think of them as
predetermined, foreordained, and "instinctive," and so, quite independent of the environment in
which they ordinarily are found. No doubt, many cities have been provided, as has Cleveland, with a special school for
delinquent boys. The institution there has been given the appropriate title, the "Thomas A. Edison
School." It usually has an enrollment of 800 to 900 boys. Dr. Watson, (14) who has been of
outstanding service in the organization of this work, makes an important comment on the origin of
the student population there:7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 17/250   The Thomas A. Edison student population consists of a group of truant and behavior boys,
most of them in those earlier stages of mal-adjustment which we have termed predelinquency. . . . In general, they are the products of unhappy experiences in school, home and community. They are sensitive recorders of the total complex of social forces which operate in and combine
to constitute what we term their community environment. It will be seen from these quotations that great emphasis has been placed upon the influence of
the environment in determining factors of delinquency. Hooton, the distinguished physical anthropologist of Harvard, has made important observations
regarding our modern physical degeneration. As an approach to this larger problem of man's
progressive degeneration, he has proposed the organization and establishment of an Institute of
Clinical Anthropology, (15)  the purpose of which he has indicated:
. . . for finding out what man is like biologically when he does not need a doctor, in order to
further ascertain what he should be like after the doctor has finished with him. I am entirely
serious when I suggest that it is a very myopic medical science which works backward from the
morgue rather than forward from the cradle. Very important contributions have been made to the forces that are at work in the development
of delinquents through an examination of the families in which affected individuals have appeared. Sullenger, (16)  in discussing this phase, states:
    Abbott and Breckinridge found in their Chicago studies that a much higher percentage of
delinquent boys than girls were from large families. However, Healy and Bronner found in their
studies in Chicago and Boston that the large family is conducive to delinquency among children
in that the larger the family the greater percentage of cases with more than one delinquent. They
were unable to detect whether or not this fact was due to parental neglect, poverty, bad
environmental conditions, or the influence of one child on another. In each of the series in both
cities the number of delinquents in families of different sizes showed general similarity. As the investigations outlined in this study are reviewed, many problems not anticipated by the
writer when these investigations were undertaken will be presented. These new problems were
not, at first, generally thought of as related directly or indirectly to our modern racial degeneration,
but have been found recently to be so related. Since it will be seen that the size and shape of the head and sinuses, including the oral cavity and
throat, are directly influenced by forces that are at work in our modern civilization, we shall
consider the speaking and singing voice. In traveling among several of the primitive races, one is
frequently impressed with the range and resonance of many of the voices--in fact, by almost every
voice. We are quite familiar with the high premium that is placed on singing voices of exceptional
quality in our modern social order. This is illustrated by the following comment: (17)
   Tip-top Italian-style tenors have always been a scarce commodity, and for the past two
decades they have been growing scarcer and scarcer. Opera impresarios count on the fingers of
one hand the lust-high-voice Latins. . . . Since the death of Enrico Caruso (1921) opera houses
have shown a steady decline. Important light will be thrown on this phase of the problem--the cause of fewer good voices in
Italy today than of old--as we note the narrowing of the face and of the dental arches and as we
see the change in the form of the palate of the various primitive races. These changes occur even in
the first generation after the parents have adopted the foods of modern white civilizations. As we study the primitives we will find that they have had an entirely different conception of the
nature and origin of the controlling forces which have molded individuals and races. Buckle, (18) in writing his epoch-making "History of Civilization" about the middle of the last
century, summed up his years of historical studies with some very important conclusions, some of
which are as follows:
    2. It is proved by history, and especially by statistics, that human actions are governed by
laws as fixed and regular as those which rule in the physical world.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 18/250    3. Climate, soil, food, and the aspects of Nature are the principal causes of intellectual
progress. 6. Religion, literature, and government are, at best, but the products, and not the cause of
civilization. This important view was not orthodox and was met by very severe criticism. The newer
knowledge strongly corroborates his view. My early studies of the relation of nutrition to dental problems were related chiefly to growth
defects in the teeth produced long before the eruption of the permanent teeth, chiefly from one
year of age to the time of eruption. These often appeared as lines across the teeth. I was able to
trace these lines directly to the use of a few highly processed baby foods. I published an extensive
report on this phase of the problem, together with illustrations, in 1913. (19) These injuries are
disclosed with the x-ray long before the teeth erupt. These disturbances occur much less frequently
in connection with the baby foods used today. The problems of modern degeneration can in general be divided into two main groups, those
which relate to the perfection of the physical body and those which relate to its function. The latter
include character as expressed in behavior of individuals and of groups of individuals which thus
relate to national character and to an entire culture. In an enumeration of the phases in which there is a progressive decline of modern civilization, it
is essential that we keep in mind that in addition to an analysis of the forces responsible for
individual degeneration, the ethical standards of the whole group cannot be higher than those of the
individuals that compose it. That recent mass degeneration is in progress is attested by daily events
throughout the world. The current interpretation for individual character degeneration largely places
the responsibility on a conditioning factor which exerts an influence during early childhood and
therefore is directly related to the environment of the child. These, therefore, are postnatal
conditioning factors.
Nutrition_and_Physical_Degeneration_by_Weston_Price.txt
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        7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
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Title: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
Author: Weston A. Price
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No. :  0200251h. html
Language:   English
Date first posted: 2002
Date most recently updated: April 2012
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Weston A. Price
Who is the author of the book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration"?
The main purpose of the book is to find the causes of physical degeneration and provide a solution to correct it.
What is the main purpose of the book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration"?
The author's approach is to analyze the physical and dental changes in isolated and modernized groups to understand the causes of modern degeneration.
What is the author's approach in the book?
The author believes that nutrition plays a crucial role in modern degeneration and that it is the primary cause of the problem.
What is the author's opinion on the role of nutrition in modern degeneration?
The author emphasizes the importance of education in preventing modern degeneration, suggesting that it is essential to educate people, particularly high school students, about the importance of nutrition and its impact on physical and mental development.
What is the author's perspective on the importance of education in addressing modern degeneration?