An important contribution to this phase comes directly from the experience of
primitive races and indicates that a more fundamental conditioning factor had developed in the
prenatal period. If, therefore, large groups of individuals suffer from such a prenatal conditioning
influence, new light will be thrown upon the larger problems of group deterioration. History seems
to provide records of such mass degeneration as, for example, those which culminated in the so-
called "dark ages." That some such mass degeneration is now in progress is suggested by leading
students of human welfare. The regius professor of Greek at Oxford in his inaugural lecture in
1937 made the following observation: (20)
   In the revolution of thought through which we are living, the profoundest and most disturbing
element is the breakdown of that ethical system which, since the days of Constantine, has
imposed upon European culture at least the semblance of moral unity. In commenting on this important statement Sir Alfred Zimmern in his address on the decline of
international standards said that "Recent events should convince the dullest mind of the extent to
which international standards have deteriorated and the anarchy which threatens the repudiation of
law and order in favour of brute force." The problem of progressive decline in individual and group ethical standards is commanding the
attention of great international organizations. In discussing this problem before the International
Rotary at its meeting in San Francisco in June, 1938, one of the leaders in mass reform, Mayor
Harold Burton of Cleveland, stressed very important phases. He stated that the American boys
"are making irrevocable choices" between good and bad citizenship which "may make or wreck
the nation. It may be on the battlefield of crime prevention that the life of democracy will be
saved." He described great industrial cities as battlefields where "the tests of democracy are the
newest and sharpest." (21)  . . . "For centuries," he said:
. . . we have fought crime primarily by seeking to catch the criminal after the crime has been
committed and then through his punishment to lead or drive him and others to good citizenship. Today the greater range of operation and greater number of criminals argue that we must deal
with the flood waters of crime. We must prevent the flood by study, control and diversion of the7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 19/250waters at their respective sources. To do this we must direct the streams of growing boys in
each community away from fields of crime to those of good citizenship. If the "flood waters" that must be controlled lie farther back than the cradle, in order to
safeguard individual character and individual citizenship from prenatal conditioning factors which
have profound influence in determining the reaction of the individuals to the environment, it is
essential that programs that are to be efficient in maintaining national character reach back to those
forces which are causing the degeneration of increasing numbers of the population in succeeding
generations of our modern cultures. That the problem of mass degeneration constitutes one of the most alarming problems of our
modernized cultures is demonstrated by the urgency of appeals that are being made by students in
national and international affairs. The discussion of "An Ethical Declaration for the Times," (22) a
declaration of faith, is accompanied by a pledge. This pledge reads:
    I pledge myself to use every opportunity for action to uphold the great tradition of civilization
to protect all those who may suffer for its sake, and to pass it on to the coming generations. I
recognized no loyalty greater than that to the task of preserving truth, toleration, and justice in
the coming world order. The author emphasizes the great danger of taking for granted that the cultural progress that has
been attained will continue. There is probably no phase of this whole problem of modern
degeneration that is so brilliantly illuminated by the accumulated wisdom of primitive races as group
degeneration. They have so organized the life of the family and the individual that the nature of the
forces which established individual behavior and character are controlled. Our problem of modern degeneration involves both individual and group destiny. Our approach
to this study will, accordingly, involve first a critical examination of the forces that are responsible
for individual degeneration. In my search for the cause of degeneration of the human face and the dental organs I have been
unable to find an approach to the problem through the study of affected individuals and diseased
tissues. In my two volume work on "Dental Infections," Volume I, entitled "Dental Infections, Oral
and Systemic," and Volume II, entitled "Dental Infections and the Degenerative Diseases," (23) I
reviewed at length the researches that I had conducted to throw light on this problem. The
evidence seemed to indicate clearly that the forces that were at work were not to be found in the
diseased tissues, but that the undesirable conditions were the result of the absence of something,
rather than of the presence of something. This strongly indicated the need for finding groups of
individuals so physically perfect that they could be used as controls. In order to discover them, I
determined to search out primitive racial stocks that were free from the degenerative processes
with which we are concerned in order to note what they have that we do not have. These field
investigations have taken me to many parts of the world through a series of years. The following
chapters review the studies made of primitive groups, first, when still protected by their isolation,
and, second, when in contact with modern civilization. REFERENCES
1. PARRAN, T. Sickness survey. Time, 31:22, 1938. 2. LANE, A. Preface to Maori Symbolism by Ettie A. Rout. London, Paul Trench Trubner,
1926. 3. WOLSTENHOLE, S. R. Proposes Stork Derby. Cleveland Press, March 12, 1937. 4. DURANT, W. A crisis in civilization. Speakers Library Magazine, p. 2, Jan. 15, 1938. 5. HOOTON, E. A. Apes, Men and Morons. New York, Putnam, 1937. 6. DRYER, T. F. Dental caries in prehistoric South Africans. Nature, 136:302, 1935. 7. LAIRD, D. The tail that wags the nation. Rev, of Revs., 92:44, 1935. 8. THORNDIKE, E. L. Big Chief's G. G. Time, 30:25, 1937. 9. MINER, J. B. Proc. Am. Ass. for Feeble-Minded, p. 54, 1919. 10. CHASSELL, C. F. Relation between morality and intellect. N. Y., Columbia, 1935. 11. BURT, C. L. Backward Child. New York, Appleton, 1937.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 20/25012. BURT, C. L. The Young Delinquent. London, University of London Press, 1925. 13. THRASHER, F. M. The Gang. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1936. 14. WATSON, M. P. Organization and administration of a public school for pre-delinquent
boys in a large city. Thesis, Cleveland, Western Reserve University. 15. HOOTON, E. A. An Anthropologist Looks at Medicine. Reviewed in Time, 27:73, 1936. 16. SULLENGER, T. E. Social Determinants in Juvenile Delinquency. London, Chapman and
Hall, 1936. 17. TENORS. Time, 30:50, 1937. 18. BUCKLE, H. T. History of Civilization. New York, Appleton, 1910. 19. PRICE, W. A. Some contributions to dental and medical science. Dental Summary,
34:253, 1914. 20. ZIMMERN, A. Scientific research in international affairs. Nature, 141:947, 1938. 21. Burton Tells of Crime Drive. Cleveland Press, June 22, 1938. 22. WHYTE, L. L. An ethical declaration for the times. Nature, 141:827, 1938. 23. PRICE, W. A. Dental Infections, Oral and Systemic. Cleveland, Penton, 1923. TABLE OF CONTENTS   
 
Chapter 3
ISOLATED AND MODERNIZED SWISS
IN ORDER to study the possibility of greater nutritive value in foods produced at a high
elevation, as indicated by a lowered incidence of morbidity, including tooth decay, I went to
Switzerland and made studies in two successive years, 1931 and 1932. It was my desire to find, if
possible, groups of Swiss living in a physical environment such that their isolation would compel
them to live largely on locally produced foods. Officials of the Swiss Government were consulted
as to the possibility of finding people in Switzerland whose physical isolation provided an adequate
protection. We were told that the physical conditions that would not permit people to obtain
modern foods would prevent us from reaching them without hardship. However, owing to the
completion of the Loetschberg Tunnel, eleven miles long, and the building of a railroad that crosses
the Loetschental Valley, at a little less than a mile above sea level, a group of about 2,000 people
had been made easily accessible for study, shortly prior to 1931. Practically all the human
requirements of the people in that valley, except a few items like sea salt, have been produced in
the valley for centuries. A bird's eye view of the Loetschental Valley, looking toward the entrance, is shown in Fig. 1. The people of this valley have a history covering more than a dozen centuries. The architecture of
their wooden buildings, some of them several centuries old, indicates a love for simple stability,
adapted to expediency and efficiency. Artistically designed mottoes, many of them centuries old,
are carved deep in the heavy supporting timbers, both within and without the buildings. They are
always expressive of devotion to cultural and spiritual values rather than to material values. These
people have never been conquered, although many efforts have been made to invade their valley. Except for the rugged cleft through which the river descends to the Rhone Valley, the Loetschental
Valley is almost completely enclosed by three high mountain ranges which are usually snow-
capped. This pass could be guarded by a small band against any attacking forces since artificial
landslides could easily be released. The natural occurrence of these landslides has made passage
through the gorge hazardous, if not impossible, for months of the year. According to early legends
of the valley these mountains were the parapets of the universe, and the great glacier of the valley,
the end of the universe. The glacier is a branch of the great ice field that stretches away to the west7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 21/250and south from the ice-cap of the Jungfrau and Monch. The mountains, however, are seldom
approached from this direction because of the hazardous ice fields. The gateway to them with
which the traveling world is familiar is from Interlaken by way of the Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald
valleys. Fig. 1. Beautiful Loetschental Valley about a mile above sea level. About two thousand Swiss live here. In 1932 no deaths had occurred
from tuberculosis in the history of the valley. At the altitude of the Loetschental Valley the winters are long, and the summers short but
beautiful, and accompanied by extraordinarily rapid and luxuriant growth. The meadows are
fragrant with Alpine flowers, with violets like pansies, which bloom all summer in deepest hues. The people of the Loetschental Valley make up a community of two thousand who have been a
world unto themselves. They have neither physician nor dentist because they have so little need for
them; they have neither policeman nor jail, because they have no need for them. The clothing has
been the substantial homespuns made from the wool of their sheep. The valley has produced not
only everything that is needed for clothing, but practically everything that is needed for food. It has
been the achievement of the valley to build some of the finest physiques in all Europe. This is
attested to by the fact that many of the famous Swiss guards of the Vatican at Rome, who are the
admiration of the world and are the pride of Switzerland, have been selected from this and other
Alpine valleys. It is every Loetschental boy's ambition to be a Vatican guard. Notwithstanding the
fact that tuberculosis is the most serious disease of Switzerland, according to a statement given me
by a government official, a recent report of inspection of this valley did not reveal a single case. I
was aided in my studies in Switzerland by the excellent cooperation of the Reverend John Siegen,
the pastor of the one church of this beautiful valley. The people live largely in a series of villages dotting the valley floor along the river bank. The
land that is tilled, chiefly for producing hay for feeding the cattle in the winter and rye for feeding
the people, extends from the river and often rises steeply toward the mountains which are wooded
with timber so precious for protection that little of it has been disturbed. Fortunately, there is much
more on the vast area of the mountain sides than is needed for the relatively small population. The
forests have been jealously guarded because they are so greatly needed to prevent slides of snow
and rocks which might engulf and destroy the villages. The valley has a fine educational system of alternate didactic and practical work. All children are
required to attend school six months of the year and to spend the other six months helping with the
farming and dairying industry in which young and old of both sexes must work. The school system
is under the direct supervision of the Catholic Church, and the work is well done. The girls are also
taught weaving, dyeing and garment making. The manufacture of wool and clothing is the chief
homework for the women in the winter. No trucks nor even horses and wagons, let alone tractors, are available to bear the burdens up
and down the mountain sides. This is all done on human backs for which the hearts of the people
have been made especially strong.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 22/250    We are primarily concerned here with the quality of the teeth and the development of the faces
that are associated with such splendid hearts and unusual physiques. I made studies of both adults
and growing boys and girls, during the summer of 1931, and arranged to have samples of food,
particularly dairy products, sent to me about twice a month, summer and winter. These products
have been tested for their mineral and vitamin contents, particularly the fat-soluble activators. The
samples were found to be high in vitamins and much higher than the average samples of
commercial dairy products in America and Europe, and in the lower areas of Switzerland. Hay is cut for winter feeding of the cattle, and this hay grows rapidly. The hay proved, on
chemical analysis made at my laboratory, to be far above the average in quality for pasturage and
storage grasses. Almost every household has goats or cows or both. In the summer the cattle seek
the higher pasturage lands and follow the retreating snow which leaves the lower valley free for the
harvesting of the hay and rye. The turning of the soil is done by hand, since there are neither plows
nor draft animals to drag the plows, in preparation for the next year's rye crop. A limited amount of
garden stuff is grown, chiefly green foods for summer use. While the cows spend the warm
summer on the verdant knolls and wooded slopes near the glaciers and fields of perpetual snow,
they have a period of high and rich productivity of milk. The milk constitutes an important part of
the summer's harvesting. While the men and boys gather in the hay and rye, the women and
children go in large numbers with the cattle to collect the milk and make and store cheese for the
following winter's use. This cheese contains the natural butter fat and minerals of the splendid milk
and is a virtual storehouse of life for the coming winter. From Dr. Siegen, I learned much about the life and customs of these people. He told me that
they recognize the presence of Divinity in the life-giving qualities of the butter made in June when
the cows have arrived for pasturage near the glaciers. He gathers the people together to thank the
kind Father for the evidence of his Being in the life-giving qualities of butter and cheese made when
the cows eat the grass near the snow line. This worshipful program includes the lighting of a wick in
a bowl of the first butter made after the cows have reached the luscious summer pasturage. This
wick is permitted to burn in a special sanctuary built for the purpose. The natives of the valley are
able to recognize the superior quality of their June butter, and, without knowing exactly why, pay it
due homage. The nutrition of the people of the Loetschental Valley, particularly that of the growing boys and
girls, consists largely of a slice of whole rye bread and a piece of the summer-made cheese (about
as large as the slice of bread), which are eaten with fresh milk of goats or cows. Meat is eaten
about once a week. In the light of our newer knowledge of activating substances, including
vitamins, and the relative values of food for supplying minerals for body building, it is clear why
they have healthy bodies and sound teeth. The average total fat-soluble activator and mineral
intake of calcium and phosphorus of these children would far exceed that of the daily intake of the
average American child. The sturdiness of the child life permits children to play and frolic
bareheaded and barefooted even in water running down from the glacier in the late evening's chilly
breezes, in weather that made us wear our overcoats and gloves and button our collars. Of all the
children in the valley still using the primitive diet of whole rye bread and dairy products the average
number of cavities per person was 0.3. On an average it was necessary to examine three persons
to find one defective deciduous or permanent tooth. The children examined were between seven
and sixteen years of age. If one is fortunate enough to be in the valley in early August and witness the earnestness with
which the people celebrate their national holiday, he will be privileged to see a sight long to be
remembered. These celebrations close with the gathering together of the mountaineers on various
crags and prominences where great bonfires are lighted from fuel that has been accumulated and
built into an enormous mound to make a huge torchlight. These bonfires are lighted at a given hour
from end to end of the valley throughout its expanse. Every mountaineer on a distant crag seeing
the lights knows that the others are signalling to him that they, too, are making their sacred
consecration in song which says one for all and all for one." This motive has been crystallized into
action and has become a part of the very souls of the people. One understands why doors do not7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 23/250need to be bolted in the Loetschental Valley. How different the level of life and horizon of such souls from those in many places in the so-
called civilized world in which people have degraded themselves until life has no interest in values
that cannot be expressed in gold or pelf, which they would obtain even though the life of the
person being cheated or robbed would thereby be crippled or blotted out. One immediately wonders if there is not something in the life-giving vitamins and minerals of the
food that builds not only great physical structures within which their souls reside, but builds minds
and hearts capable of a higher type of manhood in which the material values of life are made
secondary to individual character. In succeeding chapters we will see evidence that this is the case. Our quest has been for information relative to the health of the body, the perfection of the teeth,
and the normality of development of faces and dental arches, in order that we might through an
analysis of the foods learn the secret of such splendid body building and learn from the people of
the valley how the nutrition of all groups of people may be reinforced, so that they, too, may be
free from mankind's most universal disease, tooth decay and its sequelae. These studies included
not only the making of a physical examination of the teeth, the photographing of subjects, the
recording of voluminous data, the obtaining of samples of food for chemical analysis, the collecting
of detailed information regarding daily menus; but also the collecting of samples of saliva for
chemical analysis. The chemical analysis of saliva was used to test out my newly developed
procedure for estimating the level of immunity to dental caries for a given person at a given time. This procedure is outlined in following chapters. The samples of saliva were preserved by an
addition of formalin equivalent in amount to one per cent of the sample of saliva. These children will, it is hoped, be reexamined in succeeding years in order to make
comparative studies of the effect of the changes in the local nutritional programs. Some of these
changes are already in progress. There is now a modern bakery dispensing white bread and many
white-flour products which was in full operation in 1932. I inquired of many persons regarding the most favorable districts in which to make further
studies of groups of people living in protected isolation because of their physical environment, and
decided to study some special high Alpine valleys between the Rhone Valley and Italy, which I
included in 1932. The Canton of Wallis is bordered by French-speaking people on the west, by
Italian-speaking people on the south, and by German-speaking people on the east and north. I had
as guides and interpreters in Wallis, Dr. Alfred Gysi and also Dr. Adolf Roos through part of the
territory. Our first expedition was into the valley of the Visp which is a great gorge extending southward
from the Rhone River, dividing into two gorges, one going to the Saas Fee country, and the other
to the vicinity of the Matterhorn with its almost spirelike pinnacle lifting itself above the surrounding
snow-capped mountains and visible from eminences in all directions as one of the mightiest and
most sublime spectacles in the world. It was one of the last mountains of Europe to be scaled by
man. One has not seen the full majesty of the Alps if he has not seen the Matterhorn. We left the mountain railroad, which makes many of the grades with the cog system, at the town
of St. Nicholas, and climbed the mountain trail to an isolated settlement on the east bank of the
Mattervisp River, called Grachen, a five-hour journey. The settlement is on a shelf high above the
east side of the river where it is exposed to southern sunshine and enjoys a unique isolation
because of its physical inaccessibility. An examination made of the children in this community
showed that only 2.3 teeth out of every hundred had been attacked by tooth decay. The hardihood of the people was splendidly illustrated by a woman of 62 years who carried an
enormous load of rye on her back at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. We met her later and talked
to her, and found that she was extraordinarily well developed and well preserved. She showed us
her grandchildren who had fine physiques and facial developments.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 24/250    The rye is so precious that while being carried the heads are protected by wrapping them in
canvas so that not a kernel will be lost. The rye is thrashed by hand and ground in stone mills
which were formerly hand-turned like the one shown in Fig. 2. Recently water turbines have been
installed. Water power is abundant and the grinding is done for the people of the mountain side in
these water-driven mills. Only wholerye flour is available. Each household takes turns in using the
community bake-oven, which is shown in Fig. 2. A month's supply of whole-rye bread is baked at
one time for a given family. FIG. 2. For centuries the natives ground their rye in this type of hand
mill. This community bake-oven for whole rye bread is passing. Here again the cows were away in the midsummer, pasturing up near the glaciers. Grachen has
an altitude of about 5,000 feet. The church at Grachen was built several hundred years ago. We
were shown an embossed certificate of honor and privilege extended to a group of about 120
people who had originally built the edifice. We were given valued assistance by the local priest,
and were provided with facilities in his spacious and well-kept rooms for making our studies of the
children. From Grachen we returned to St. Nicholas and proceeded from there by train down the valley
and up another steep ascent, requiring several hours, to the hamlet of Visperterminen, on the east
side of the mountain above the Visp River, and below the junction of the Mattervisp and
Saaservisp. This community is made up of about 1,600 people living on a sheltered shelf high
above the river valley. The view from this position is indescribably beautiful. It is a little below the
timber line of this and the surrounding mountains. Majestic snow-clad peaks and precipitous
mountains dot the horizon and shade off into winding gorges which mark the course of wandering
streams several thousand feet below our vantage point. It is a place to stop and ponder. The gradations in climate range in the summer from a tropical temperature in protected nooks
during the daytime to sub-zero weather with raging blizzards at night on the high mountains. It is a
place where human stamina can be tempered to meet all the vicissitudes of life. The village consists of a group of characteristically designed Swiss chalets clustered on the
mountain side. The church stands out as a beacon visible from mountains in all directions. Visperterminen is unique in many respects. Notwithstanding its relative proximity to civilization--it
is only a few hours' journey to the thoroughfare of the Rhone Valley--it has enjoyed isolation and
opportunity for maintaining its characteristic primitive social and civil life. We were greeted here by
the president of the village who graciously opened the school house and sent messengers to have
the children of the community promptly come to the school building in order that we might make
such studies as we desired. This study included a physical examination of the teeth and of the
general development of the children, particularly of the faces and dental arches, the making of
photographic records, the obtaining of samples of saliva, as in other places, and also the making of
a detailed study of the nutrition. In addition, we obtained samples of foods for chemical analysis. The people of Visperterminen have the unique distinction of owning land in the lower part of the
mountain on which they maintain vineyards to supply wine for this country. They have the highest
vineyards of Europe. They are grown on banks that are often so steep that one wonders how the7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 25/250tillers of the soil or the gatherers of the fruit can maintain their hold on the precarious and shifting
footing. Each terrace has a trench near its lower retaining wall to catch the soil that is washed
down, and this soil must be carried back in baskets to the upper boundary of the plot. This is all
done by human labor. The vineyards afforded them the additional nutrition of wine and of fruit
minerals and vitamins which the two groups we studied at Loetschental and Grachen did not have. This additional nutrition was of importance because of the opportunity for obtaining through it
vitamin C. It is of particular interest in the study of the incidence of tooth decay in Visperterminen
that these additional factors had not created a higher immunity to tooth decay, nor a better
condition of health in gingival tissues than previously found. In each one hundred teeth examined
5.2 were found to have been attacked at some time by tooth decay. Here again the nutrition
consisted of rye, used almost exclusively as the cereal; of dairy products; of meat about once a
week; and also some potatoes. Limited green foods were eaten during the summer. The general
custom is to have a sheep dressed and distributed to a group of families, thus providing each family
with a ration of meat for one day a week, usually Sunday. The bones and scraps are utilized for
making soups to be served during the week. The children have goat's milk in the summer when the
cows are away in the higher pastures near the snow line. Certain members of the families go to the
higher pastures with the cows to make cheese for the coming winter's use. The problem of identifying goats or cattle for establishing individual ownership is a considerable
one where the stock of all are pastured in common herds. It was interesting to us to observe how
this problem was met. The president of the village has what is called a "tessel" which is a string of
manikins in imitation of goats or cattle made of wood and leather. Every stock owner must provide
a manikin to be left in the safekeeping of the president of the village with whom it is registered. It
carries on it the individual markings that this member of the colony agrees to put on every member
of his animal stock. The marking may be a hole punched in the left ear or a slit in the right ear, or
any combination of such markings as is desired. Thereafter all animals carrying that mark are the
property of the person who registered it; similarly, any animals that have not this individual symbol
of identification cannot be claimed by him. As one stands in profound admiration before the stalwart physical development and high moral
character of these sturdy mountaineers, he is impressed by the superior types of manhood,
womanhood, and childhood that Nature has been able to produce from a suitable diet and a
suitable environment. Surely, here is evidence enough to answer the question whether cereals
should be avoided because they produce acids in the system which if formed will be the cause of
tooth decay and many other ills including the acidity of the blood or saliva. Surely, the ultimate
control will be found in Nature's laboratory where man has not yet been able to meddle sufficiently
with Nature's nutritional program to blight humanity with abnormal and synthetic nutrition. When
one has watched for days the childlife in those high Alpine preserves of superior manhood; when
one has contrasted these people with the pinched and sallow, and even deformed, faces and
distorted bodies that are produced by our modern civilization and its diets; and when one has
contrasted the unsurpassed beauty of the faces of these children developed on Nature's primitive
foods with the varied assortment of modern civilization's children with their defective facial
development, he finds himself filled with an earnest desire to see that this betterment is made
available for modern civilization. Again and again we had the experience of examining a young man or young woman and finding
that at some period of his life tooth decay had been rampant and had suddenly ceased; but, during
the stress, some teeth had been lost. When we asked such people whether they had gone out of
the mountain and at what age, they generally replied that at eighteen or twenty years of age they
had gone to this or that city and had stayed a year or two. They stated that they had never had a
decayed tooth before they went or after they returned, but that they had lost some teeth in the
short period away from home. At this point of our studies Dr. Roos found it necessary to leave, but Dr. Gysi accompanied us
to the Anniviers Valley, which is also on the south side of the Rhone. The river of the valley, the
Navizenze, drains from the high Swiss and Italian boundary north to the Rhone River. Here again7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 26/250we had the remarkable experience of finding communities near to each other, one blessed with
high immunity to tooth decay, and the other afflicted with rampant tooth decay. The village of Ayer lies in a beautiful valley well up toward the glaciers. It is still largely primitive,
although a government road has recently been developed, which, like many of the new arteries,
has made it possible to dispatch military protection when and if necessary to any community. In
this beautiful hamlet, until recently isolated, we found a high immunity to dental caries. Only 2.3
teeth out of each hundred examined were found to have been attacked by tooth decay. Here again
the people were living on rye and dairy products. We wonder if history will repeat itself in the next
few years and if there, too, this enviable immunity will be lost with the advent of the highway. Usually it is not long after tunnels and roads are built that automobiles and wagons enter with
modern foods, which begin their destructive work. This fact has been tragically demonstrated in
this valley since a roadway was extended as far as Vissoie several years ago. In this village modern
foods have been available for some time. One could probably walk the distance from Ayer to
Vissoie in an hour. The number of teeth found to be attacked with caries for each one hundred
children's teeth examined at Vissoie was 20.2 as compared with 2.3 at Ayer. We had here a
splendid opportunity to study the changes that had occurred in the nutritional programs. With the
coming of transportation and new markets there had been shipped in modern white flour;
equipment for a bakery to make white-flour goods; highly sweetened fruit, such as jams,
marmalades, jellies, sugar and syrups--all to be traded for the locally produced high-vitamin dairy
products and high-mineral cheese and rye; and with the exchange there was enough money as
premium to permit buying machine-made clothing and various novelties that would soon be
translated into necessities. Each valley or village has its own special feast days of which athletic contests are the principal
events. The feasting in the past has been largely on dairy products. The athletes were provided
with large bowls of cream as constituting one of the most popular and healthful beverages, and
special cheese was always available. Practically no wine was used because no grapes grew in that
valley, and for centuries the isolation of the people prevented access to much material that would
provide wine. In the Visperterminen community, however, the special vineyards owned by these
people on the lower level of the mountain side provided grape juice in various stages of
fermentation, and their feasts in the past have been celebrated by the use of wines of rare vintage
as well as by the use of cream and other dairy products. Their cream products took the place of
our modern ice cream. It was a matter of deep interest to have the President of Visperterminen
show us the tankards that had been in use in that community for nine or ten centuries. The care of
these was one of the many responsibilities of the chief executive of the hamlet. It is reported that practically all skulls that are exhumed in the Rhone valley, and, indeed,
practically throughout all of Switzerland where graves have existed for more than a hundred years,
show relatively perfect teeth; whereas the teeth of people recently buried have been riddled with
caries or lost through this disease. It is of interest that each church usually has associated with it a
cemetery in which the graves are kept decorated, often with beautiful designs of fresh or artificial
flowers. Members of succeeding generations of families are said to be buried one above the other
to a depth of many feet. Then, after a sufficient number of generations have been so honored, their
bodies are exhumed to make a place for present and coming generations. These skeletons are
usually preserved with honor and deference. The bones are stacked in basements of certain
buildings of the church edifice with the skulls facing outward. These often constitute a solid wall of
considerable extent. In Naters there is such a group said to contain 20,000 skeletons and skulls. These were studied with great interest as was also a smaller collection in connection with the
cathedral at Visp. While many of the single straight-rooted teeth had been lost in the handling,
many were present. It was a matter of importance to find that only a small percentage of teeth had
had caries. Teeth that had been attacked with deep caries had developed apical abscesses with
consequent destruction of the alveolar processes. Evidence of this bone change was readily visible. Sockets of missing teeth still had continuous walls, indicating that the teeth had been vital at death. The reader will scarcely believe it possible that such marked differences in facial form, in the7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 27/250shape of the dental arches, and in the health condition of the teeth as are to be noted when passing
from the highly modernized lower valleys and plains country in Switzerland to the isolated high
valleys can exist. Fig. 3 shows four girls with typically broad dental arches and regular arrangement
of the teeth. They have been born and raised in the Loetschental Valley or other isolated valleys of
Switzerland which provide the excellent nutrition that we have been reviewing. They have been
taught little regarding the use of tooth brushes. Their teeth have typical deposits of unscrubbed
mouths; yet they are almost completely free from dental caries, as are the other individuals of the
group they represent. In a study of 4,280 teeth of the children of these high valleys, only 3.4 per
cent were found to have been attacked by tooth decay. This is in striking contrast to conditions
found in the modernized sections using the modern foods. FIG. 3. Normal design of face and dental arches when adequate
nutrition is provided for both the parents and the children. Note the well developed nostrils. In Loetschental, Grachen, Visperterminen and Ayer, we have found communities of native
Swiss living almost exclusively on locally produced foods consisting of the cereal, rye, and the
animal product, milk, in its various forms. At Vissoie, with its available modern nutrition, there has
been a complete change in the level of immunity to dental caries. It is important that studies be
made in other communities which correspond in altitude with the first four places studied in which
there was a high immunity to dental caries. Modern foods should be available in the new
communities selected for comparative study. To find such places one would naturally think of those
that are world-famed as health resorts providing the best things that modern science and industry
can assemble. Surely St. Moritz would be such a place. It is situated in the southeastern part of the
Republic of Switzerland near the headwaters of the Danube in the upper Engadin. This world-
famous watering place attracts people of all continents for both summer and winter health building
and for the enjoyment of the mountain lakes, snow-capped peaks, forested mountain sides, and
crystal clear atmosphere with abundance of sunshine. The journey from the Canton of Wallis (Valais) to the upper Engadin takes one up the Rhone
valley, climbing continually to get above cascades and beautiful waterfalls until one comes to the
great Rhone glacier which blocks the end of the valley. The water gushes from beneath the7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 28/250mountain of ice to become the parent stream of the Rhone river which passes westward through
the Rhone valley receiving tributaries from snow-fed streams from both north and south
watersheds, as it rolls westward to the beautiful Lake Geneva and then onward west and south to
the Mediterranean. It is of significance that a study of the child life in the Rhone valley, as made by Swiss officials
and reported by Dr. Adolf Roos and his associates, shows that practically every child had tooth
decay and the majority of the children had decay in an aggravated form. People of this valley are
provided with adequate railroad transportation for bringing them the luxuries of the world. As we
pass eastward over the pass through Andermatt, we are reminded that the trains of the St.
Gotthard tunnel go thundering through the mountain a mile below our feet en route to Italy. To
reach our goal, the beautiful modern city and summer resort of St. Moritz, we enter the Engadin
country famed for its beauty and crystal-clear atmosphere. We already know something of the
beauty that awaits us which has attracted pleasure seekers and beauty lovers of the world to St.
Moritz. One would scarcely expect to see so modern a city as St. Mortiz at an altitude of a little
over a mile, with little else to attract people than its climate in winter and summer, the magnificent
scenery, and the clear atmosphere. We have passed from the communities where almost everyone
wears homespuns to one of English walking coats and the most elegant of feminine attire. Everyone
shows the effect of contact with culture. The hotels in their appointments and design are
reminiscent of Atlantic City. Immediately one sees something is different here than in the primitive
localities: the children have not the splendidly developed features, and the people give no evidence
of the great physical reserve that is present in the smaller communities. Through the kindness of Dr. William Barry, a local dentist, and through that of the
superintendent of the public schools, we were invited to use one of the school buildings for our
studies of the children. The summer classes were dismissed with instructions that the children be
retained so that we could have them for study. Several factors were immediately apparent. The
teeth were shining and clean, giving eloquent testimony of the thoroughness of the instructions in the
use of the modern dentifrices for efficient oral prophylaxis. The gums looked better and the teeth
more beautiful for having the debris and deposits removed. Surely this superb climate, this
magnificent setting, combined with the best of the findings of modern prophylactic science, should
provide a 100-per-cent immunity to tooth decay. But in a study of the children from eight to fifteen
years of age, 29.8 per cent of the teeth had already been attacked by dental caries. Our study of
each case included careful examining of the mouth; photographing of the face and teeth; obtaining
of samples of saliva for chemical analysis; and a study of the program of nutrition followed by the
given case. In most cases, the diet was strikingly modern, and the only children found who did not
have tooth decay proved to be children who were eating the natural foods, whole rye bread and
plenty of milk. In Chapter 15, a detailed discussion of the chemical differences in the food constituents is
presented for both the districts subject to immunity, and for those subject to susceptibility. I was told by a former resident of this upper Engadin country that in one of the isolated valleys
only a few decades ago the children were still carrying their luncheons to school in the form of
roasted rye carried dry in their pockets. Their ancestors had eaten cereal in this dry form for
centuries. St. Moritz is a typical Alpine community with a physical setting lar to that in the Cantons of Bern
and Wallis (Valais). It is, however, provided with modern nutrition consisting of an abundance of
white-flour products, marmalades, jams, canned vegetables, confections, and fruits--all of which
are transported to the district. Only a limited supply of vegetables is grown locally. We studied
some children here whose parents retained their primitive methods of food selection, and without
exception those who were immune to dental caries were eating a distinctly different food from
those with high susceptibility to dental caries. Few countries of the world have had officials so untiring in their efforts to study and tabulate the
incidence of dental caries in various geographic localities as has Switzerland. In the section lying to7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 29/250the north and east, and near Lake Constance, there is a considerable district where it is reported
that 100 per cent of the people are suffering from dental caries. In almost all the other parts of
Switzerland in which the population is large 95 to 98 per cent of the people suffer from dental
caries. Of the two remaining districts, in one there is from 90 to 95 per cent and in the other from
85 to 90 per cent individual susceptibility to dental caries. Since in the district in the vicinity of
Lake Constance the incidence of dental caries is so high that it is recorded as 100 per cent, it
seemed especially desirable to make a similar critical study there and to obtain samples of saliva
and detailed information regarding the food, and to make detailed physical examinations of
growing children in this community, and through the great kindness of Dr. Hans Eggenberger,
Director of Public Health for this general district, we were given an opportunity to do so. Arrangements were made by Dr. Eggenberger so that typical groups of children, some in
institutions, could be studied. He is located at Herisau in the Canton of St. Gall. We found work
well organized for building up the health of these children in so far as outdoor treatment, fresh air,
and sunshine were concerned. As dental caries is a major problem, and probably nutritional, it is
treated by sunshine. The boys' group and girls' group are both given suitable athletic sports under
skillfully trained directors. These groups are located in different parts of the city. Their recreation
grounds are open lawns adjoining wooded knolls which give the children protection and isolation in
which to play in their sunsuits and build vigorous appetites, and thus to prepare for their institutional
foods which were largely from a modern menu. Critical dental examinations were made and an
analysis of the data obtained revealed that one-fourth of all teeth of these growing boys and girls
had already been attacked by dental caries, and that only 4 per cent of the children had escaped
from the ravages of tooth decay, which disease many of them had in an aggravated form. In the Herisau group 25.5 per cent of the 2,065 teeth examined had been attacked by dental
caries and many teeth were abscessed. The upper photographs in Fig. 4 are of two girls with
typically rampant tooth decay. The one to the left is sixteen years of age and several of her
permanent teeth are decayed to the gum line. Her appearance is seriously marred, as is also that of
the girl to the right. Another change that is seen in passing from the isolated groups with their more nearly normal
facial developments, to the groups of the lower valleys, is the marked irregularity of the teeth with
narrowing of the arches and other facial features. In the lower half of Fig. 4 may be seen two such
cases. While in the isolated groups not a single case of a typical mouth breather was found, many
were seen among the children of the lower-plains group. The children studied were from ten to
sixteen years of age.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 30/250Fig. 4. In the modernized districts of Switzerland tooth decay is
rampant. The girl, upper left, is sixteen and the one to the right is
younger. They use white bread and sweets liberally. The two children
below have very badly formed dental arches with crowding of the
teeth. this deformity is not due to heredity. Many individuals in the modernized districts bore on their faces scars which indicated that the
abscess of an infected tooth had broken through to the external surface where it had developed a
fistula with resultant scar tissue, thus producing permanent deformity. Bad as these conditions were, we were told that they were better than the average for the
community. The ravages of dental caries had been strikingly evident as we came in contact with the
local and traveling public. As we had at St. Moritz, we found an occasional child with much better
teeth than the average. Usually the answer was not far to seek. For example, in one of the St.
Moritz groups, in a class of sixteen boys, there were 158 cavities, or an average of 9.8 cavities per
person (fillings are counted as cavities). In the cases of three other children in the same group,
there were only three cavities, and one case was without dental caries. Two of these three had
been eating dark bread or entire-grain bread, and one was eating dark bread and oatmeal
porridge. All three drank milk liberally. When looking here for the source of dairy products one is impressed by the absence of cows at
pasture in the plains of Switzerland, areas in which a large percentage of the entire population
resides. True, one frequently sees large laiteries or creameries, but the cows are not in sight. On
asking the explanation for this, I found that a larger quantity of milk could be obtained from the
cows if they were kept in the stables during the period of high production. Indeed, this was a
necessity in most of these communities since there were so few fences, and during the time of the
growth of the crops, including the stock feed for the winter's use, it was necessary that the cows
be kept enclosed. About the only time that cows were allowed out on pasture was in the fall after
the crops had been harvested and while the stubble was being plowed. Among the children in St. Moritz and Herisau, those groups with the lower number of cavities
per person were using milk more or less liberally. Of the total number of children examined in both
places only 11 per cent were using milk in their diets, whereas 100 per cent of the children in the
other districts that provided immunity were using milk. Nearly every child in St. Moritz was eating
white bread. In Herisau, all but one of the children examined were eating white bread in whole or7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 31/250in principal part. Since so many cattle were stall-fed in the thickly populated part of Switzerland, and since so
low a proportion of the children used milk even sparingly, I was concerned to know what use was
made of the milk. Numerous road signs announcing the brand of sweetened milk chocolate made
in the several districts suggested one use. This chocolate is one of the important products for
export and as a beverage constitutes a considerable item in the nutrition of large numbers living in
this and in other countries. It is recognized as a high source of energy, primarily because of the
sugar and chocolate which when combined with the milk greatly reduces the ratio of the minerals
to the energy factors as expressed in calories. It was formerly thought that dental caries which was so rampant in the greater portion of
Switzerland was due in part to low iodine content in the cattle feed and in other food because of
iodine deficiency in the soil. Large numbers of former generations suffered from clinical goiter and
various forms of thyroid disturbances. That this is not the cause seems clearly demonstrated by the
fact that dental caries is apparently as extensive today as ever before, if not more so, while the
iodine problem has been met through a reinforcement of the diet of growing children and others in
stress periods with iodine in suitable form. Indeed the early work done in Cleveland by Crile,
Marine, and Kimball was referred to by the medical authorities there as being the forerunner of the
control of the thyroid disorder in these communities. The officials of the Herisau community were so deeply concerned regarding the prevalence of
dental caries that they were carrying forward institutional and community programs with the hope
of checking this affliction. If dental caries were primarily the result of an inadequate amount of
vitamin D, then sunning the patients should provide an adequate reinforcement. This is one of the
principal purposes for getting the growing boys and girls of the community into sunsuits for tanning
their bodies. Another procedure to which my attention was called consisted of adding to the bread a product
high in lime, which was being obtained in the foothills of the district. This and other types of bread
were studied by chemical analyses. Clinically, tooth decay was not reduced. I made an effort to establish a clinic in a neighboring town for the purpose of demonstrating with
a group of children that dental caries can be controlled by a simple nutritional program. An
interesting incident developed in connection with the selection of the children for this experimental
group. When parents were asked to permit their children to have one meal a day reinforced,
according to a program that has proved adequate with my clinical groups in Cleveland, the
objection was made that there was no use trying to save the teeth of the girls. The girls should have
all their teeth extracted and artificial teeth provided before they were married, because if they did
not they would lose them then. It is of interest that the southern part of Switzerland including the high Alpine country is largely
granite. The hills in the northern part of Switzerland are largely limestone in origin. A great number
of people live in the plain between these two geologic formations, a plain which is largely made of
alluvial deposits which have been washed down from the upper formations. The soil is
extraordinarily fertile soil and has supported a thrifty and healthy population in the past. When I asked a government official what the principal diseases of the community were, he said
that the most serious and most universal was dental caries, and the next most important,
tuberculosis; and that both were largely modern diseases in that country. When I visited the famous advocate of heliotherapy, Dr. Rollier, in his clinic in Leysin,
Switzerland, I wondered at the remarkable results he was obtaining with heliotherapy in
nonpulmonary tuberculosis. I asked him how many patients he had under his general supervision
and he said about thirty-five hundred. I then asked him how many of them come from the isolated
Alpine valleys and he said that there was not one; but that they were practically all from the Swiss
plains, with some from other countries.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 32/250    I inquired of several clinicians in Switzerland what their observations were with regard to the
association of dental caries and tuberculosis among the people of Switzerland. I noted that the
reports indicated that the two diseases were generally associated. We will find a corollary to this in
many studies in other parts of the world. These studies in Switzerland, as briefly presented here, seem to demonstrate that the isolated
groups dependent on locally produced natural foods have nearly complete natural immunity to
dental caries, and that the substitution of modern dietaries for these primitive natural foods destroys
this immunity whether in ideally located elevated districts like St. Moritz or in the beautiful and
fertile plains of lower Switzerland. The question seems to answer itself in a general way, without
much laboratory data, from the results of a critical examination of the foods. The laboratory
analyses, however, identify the particular factors in the foods which are primarily responsible by
their presence for establishing immunity, and by their absence in inducing susceptibility to dental
caries. These chemical data are discussed in Chapter 15. High immunity to dental caries, freedom from deformity of the dental arches and face, and
sturdy physiques with high immunity to disease were all found associated with physical isolation,
and with forced limitation in selection of foods. This resulted in a very liberal use of dairy products
and whole-rye bread, in connection with plant foods, and with meat served about once a week. The individuals in the modernized districts were found to have widespread tooth decay. Many
had facial and dental arch deformities and much susceptibility to diseases. These conditions were
associated with the use of refined cereal flours, a high intake of sweets, canned goods, sweetened
fruits, chocolate; and a greatly reduced use of dairy products. TABLE OF CONTENTS   
 
Chapter 4
ISOLATED AND MODERNIZED GAELICS
STORIES have long been told of the superb health of the people living in the Islands of the Outer
Hebrides. The smoke oozing through the thatched roofs of their "black houses" has added
weirdness to the description of their home life and strange environment. These stories have
included a description of their wonderfully fine teeth and their stalwart physiques and strong
characters. They, accordingly, provide an excellent setting for a study to throw light on the
problem of the cause of dental caries and modern physical degeneration. These Islands lie off the
northwest coast of Scotland, extending to a latitude nearly as far north as the southern part of
Greenland. A typical view of their thatched-roof cottages may be seen in Fig. 5.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 33/250FIG. 5. A typical "black house" of the Isle of Lewis derives its name
from the smoke of the peat burned for heat. The splendid physical
development of the native Gaelic fisherfolk is characterized by
excellent teeth and well formed faces and dental arches. The Isle of Lewis has a population of about twenty thousand, made up almost entirely of fisher
folk and crofters or sheep raisers. This island has so little lime in its soil that it is said that there are
no trees in the entire island except a few which have been planted. The surface of the island is
largely covered with peat, varying in thickness from a few inches to twenty feet. This is the fuel. Peat contains the rootlets of the plant life which grew many centuries ago. There is so little bacterial
growth that vegetable products undergo very slow decay. The pasturage of the island is so poor
that exceedingly few cattle are to be found, largely because they do not properly mature and
reproduce. In a few districts some highland cattle with long shaggy hair and wide spread horns are
found. Almost all of these are imported. The principal herd of cattle on the island consists of a few
dozen head on the government experimental farm. The basic foods of these islanders are fish and oat products with a little barley. Oat grain is the
one cereal which develops fairly readily, and it provides the porridge and oat cakes which in many
homes are eaten in some form regularly with each meal. The fishing about the Outer Hebrides is
specially favorable, and small sea foods, including lobsters, crabs, oysters and clams, are
abundant. An important and highly relished article of diet has been baked cod's head stuffed with
chopped cod's liver and oatmeal. The principal port of the Isle of Lewis is Stornoway with a fixed
population of about four thousand and a floating population of seamen over week-ends, of an
equal or greater number. The Sunday we spent there, 450 large fishing boats were said to be in the
port for the week-end. Large quantities of fish are packed here for foreign markets. These hardy
fisherwomen often toil from six in the morning to ten at night. The abundance of fish makes the cost
of living very low. In Fig. 5 may be seen three of these fisher-people with teeth of unusual perfection. We saw
them at the fish-cleaning benches from early morning till late at night dressed, as you see them
pictured, in their oilskin suits and rubber boots. We met them again in their Sunday attire taking
important parts in the leading church. It would be difficult to find examples of womanhood
combining a higher degree of physical perfection and more exalted ideals than these weather-
hardened toilers. Theirs is a land of frequent gales, often sleet-ridden or enshrouded in penetrating7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 34/250cold fogs. Life is full of meaning for characters that are developed to accept as everyday routine
raging seas and piercing blizzards representing the accumulated fury of the treacherous north
Atlantic. One marvels at their gentleness, refinement and sweetness of character. The people live in these so-called black houses. These are thatched-roof dwellings containing
usually two or three rooms. The walls are built of stone and dirt, ordinarily about five feet in
thickness. There is usually a fireplace and chimney, one or two outside doors, and very few
windows in the house. The thatch of the roofs plays a very important rôle. It is replaced each
October and the old thatch is believed by the natives to have great value as a special fertilizer for
their soil because of its impregnation with chemicals that have been obtained from the peat smoke
which may be seen seeping through all parts of the roof at all seasons of the year. Peat fires are
kept burning for this explicit purpose even when the heat is not needed. This means that enormous
quantities of peat are required to maintain a continuous smudge. Some of the houses have no
chimney because it is desirable that the smoke leave the building through the thatched roof. Not
infrequently smoke is seen rolling out of an open door or open window. Fortunately the peat is so
abundant that it can be obtained easily from the almost limitless quantities nearby. The sheep that
roam the heather-covered plains are of a small black-faced breed, exhibiting great hardihood. They provide wool of specially high quality, which, incidentally, is the source of the famous Harris
Tweeds which are woven in these small black houses chiefly on the Isle of Harris. We are particularly concerned with the people of early Scotch descent who possess a physique
that rivals that found in almost any place in the world. They are descendants of the original Gaelic
stock which is their language today, and the only one which a large percentage of them can speak. This island has only one port which means that most of the shore line still provides primitive living
conditions as does the central part of the island. It was a great surprise, and indeed a very happy
one, to find such high types of manhood and womanhood as exist among the occupants of these
rustic thatched-roof homes, usually located in an expanse of heather-covered treeless plains. It
would be hard to visualize a more complete isolation for child life than many of these homes
provide, and one marvels at the refinement, intelligence, and strength of character of these rugged
people. They resent, and I think justly so, the critical and uncomplimentary references made to
their homes in attaching to them the name "black-houses." Several that we visited were artistically
decorated with clean wallpaper and improvised hangings. One would expect that in their one seaport town of Stornoway things would be gay over the
week-end, if not boisterous, with between four and five thousand fishermen and seamen on shore-
leave from Saturday until midnight Sunday. On Saturday evening the sidewalks were crowded with
happy carefree people, but no boisterousness and no drinking were to be seen. Sunday the people
went in throngs to their various churches. Before the sailors went aboard their crafts on Sunday
evening they met in bands on the street and on the piers for religious singing and prayers for safety
on their next fishing expedition. One could not buy a postage stamp, a picture card, or a
newspaper, could not hire a taxi, and could not find a place of amusement open on Sunday. Everybody has reverence for the Sabbath day on the Isle of Lewis. Every activity is made
subservient to their observance of the Sabbath day. In few places in the world are moral standards
so high. One wonders if the bleak winds which thrash the north Atlantic from our Labrador and
Greenland coasts have not tempered the souls of these people and created in them higher levels of
nobility and exalted human expression. These people are the outposts of the western fringe of the
European continent. Just as one sees in Brittany, on the west coast of France, the prehistoric druidical stone forest
marking a civilization which existed so far in the past as to be without historic records except in its
monuments; so, too, we find here the forest of granite slabs in which these sturdy prehistoric souls
worshipped their divinities before they were crowded into the sea by the westward moving hordes. When one realizes the distance that these heavy stones had to be transported, a distance of
probably twenty miles over difficult terrain, we can appreciate the task. Their size can be
calculated from the depth to which they must be buried in order to stand erect even to this day. We are concerned primarily with the physical development of the people, and particularly with7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 35/250their freedom from dental caries or tooth decay.
Nutrition_and_Physical_Degeneration_by_Weston_Price.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        An important contribution to this phase comes directly from the experience of
primitive races and indicates that a more fundamental conditioning factor had developed in the
prenatal period. If, therefore, large groups of individuals suffer from such a prenatal conditioning
influence, new light will be thrown upon the larger problems of group deterioration. History seems
to provide records of such mass degeneration as, for example, those which culminated in the so-
called "dark ages. " That some such mass degeneration is now in progress is suggested by leading
students of human welfare. The regius professor of Greek at Oxford in his inaugural lecture in
1937 made the following observation: (20)
   In the revolution of thought through which we are living, the profoundest and most disturbing
element is the breakdown of that ethical system which, since the days of Constantine, has
imposed upon European culture at least the semblance of moral unity. In commenting on this important statement Sir Alfred Zimmern in his address on the decline of
international standards said that "Recent events should convince the dullest mind of the extent to
which international standards have deteriorated and the anarchy which threatens the repudiation of
law and order in favour of brute force. " The problem of progressive decline in individual and group ethical standards is commanding the
attention of great international organizations. In discussing this problem before the International
Rotary at its meeting in San Francisco in June, 1938, one of the leaders in mass reform, Mayor
Harold Burton of Cleveland, stressed very important phases. He stated that the American boys
"are making irrevocable choices" between good and bad citizenship which "may make or wreck
the nation. It may be on the battlefield of crime prevention that the life of democracy will be
saved. " He described great industrial cities as battlefields where "the tests of democracy are the
newest and sharpest. " (21). "For centuries," he said:. we have fought crime primarily by seeking to catch the criminal after the crime has been
committed and then through his punishment to lead or drive him and others to good citizenship. Today the greater range of operation and greater number of criminals argue that we must deal
with the flood waters of crime. We must prevent the flood by study, control and diversion of the7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg. net. au/ebooks02/0200251h. html#toc 19/250waters at their respective sources. To do this we must direct the streams of growing boys in
each community away from fields of crime to those of good citizenship. If the "flood waters" that must be controlled lie farther back than the cradle, in order to
safeguard individual character and individual citizenship from prenatal conditioning factors which
have profound influence in determining the reaction of the individuals to the environment, it is
essential that programs that are to be efficient in maintaining national character reach back to those
forces which are causing the degeneration of increasing numbers of the population in succeeding
generations of our modern cultures. That the problem of mass degeneration constitutes one of the most alarming problems of our
modernized cultures is demonstrated by the urgency of appeals that are being made by students in
national and international affairs. The discussion of "An Ethical Declaration for the Times," (22) a
declaration of faith, is accompanied by a pledge. This pledge reads:
    I pledge myself to use every opportunity for action to uphold the great tradition of civilization
to protect all those who may suffer for its sake, and to pass it on to the coming generations. I
recognized no loyalty greater than that to the task of preserving truth, toleration, and justice in
the coming world order. The author emphasizes the great danger of taking for granted that the cultural progress that has
been attained will continue. There is probably no phase of this whole problem of modern
degeneration that is so brilliantly illuminated by the accumulated wisdom of primitive races as group
degeneration. They have so organized the life of the family and the individual that the nature of the
forces which established individual behavior and character are controlled. Our problem of modern degeneration involves both individual and group destiny. Our approach
to this study will, accordingly, involve first a critical examination of the forces that are responsible
for individual degeneration. In my search for the cause of degeneration of the human face and the dental organs I have been
unable to find an approach to the problem through the study of affected individuals and diseased
tissues. In my two volume work on "Dental Infections," Volume I, entitled "Dental Infections, Oral
and Systemic," and Volume II, entitled "Dental Infections and the Degenerative Diseases," (23) I
reviewed at length the researches that I had conducted to throw light on this problem. The
evidence seemed to indicate clearly that the forces that were at work were not to be found in the
diseased tissues, but that the undesirable conditions were the result of the absence of something,
rather than of the presence of something. This strongly indicated the need for finding groups of
individuals so physically perfect that they could be used as controls. In order to discover them, I
determined to search out primitive racial stocks that were free from the degenerative processes
with which we are concerned in order to note what they have that we do not have. These field
investigations have taken me to many parts of the world through a series of years. The following
chapters review the studies made of primitive groups, first, when still protected by their isolation,
and, second, when in contact with modern civilization. REFERENCES
1. PARRAN, T. Sickness survey. Time, 31:22, 1938. 2. LANE, A. Preface to Maori Symbolism by Ettie A. Rout. London, Paul Trench Trubner,
1926. 3. WOLSTENHOLE, S. R. Proposes Stork Derby. Cleveland Press, March 12, 1937. 4. DURANT, W. A crisis in civilization. Speakers Library Magazine, p. 2, Jan. 15, 1938. 5. HOOTON, E. A. Apes, Men and Morons. New York, Putnam, 1937. 6. DRYER, T. F. Dental caries in prehistoric South Africans. Nature, 136:302, 1935. 7. LAIRD, D. The tail that wags the nation. Rev, of Revs. , 92:44, 1935. 8. THORNDIKE, E. L. Big Chief's G. G. Time, 30:25, 1937. 9. MINER, J. B. Proc. Am. Ass. for Feeble-Minded, p. 54, 1919. 10. CHASSELL, C.
The author is concerned with the physical development of the people, particularly in relation to their immunity to dental caries.
What is the author's main concern in this study?
The author is seeking to identify the factors that contribute to the development of strong, healthy physiques and resistance to tooth decay.
What is the purpose of the author's research?
The author notes that the people in the Loetschental Valley have a high immunity to dental caries, and their children have not had any dental caries.
What is the author's observation about the Swiss community in the Loetschental Valley?
The author suggests that the diet of the isolated communities, consisting of natural foods, is the primary factor in their resistance to tooth decay.
What is the author's opinion on the reason for the high immunity to dental caries in the isolated Swiss communities?
The author notes that the people on the Isle of Lewis have a high level of physical perfection, with excellent teeth and well-formed faces, and are characterized by refinement, intelligence, and strength of character.
What is the author's observation about the Gaelic-speaking people on the Isle of Lewis?