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INFLUEXCE OF CIVILIZATION OS DECAY. 221

Percentage
Xo. of
MoDEKX Races. Caries. of Food.
Skulls.
1 Caries.
Esquimaux . 81 2 2.46 'Meat and fish.
North Americans . 63 2 3.17 'Meat and fish, probahly
(coasters.) not quite exclusively.
1
North Americans . 22 2 9.09 Mostly meat, some vegeta-
(interior,
i bles'.
South Americans . 26 7 27.00 Principally meat.
Feejee Islanders 38 2 5.26 Human flesh and mixed
food.
Polynesians . . . 79 8 10.12 Mixed food.
Sandwich Islanders 21 3 14.28 i( .1
New Zealanders 66 9 3.30 Human flesh, pork, fish,
roots.
Australians . 132 27 20.45 Mixed food.
Tasmanians . . . 33 9 27.27
Chinese .... 50 21 40.20 mostly vegetable
East Indians (north) 152 9 5.92 U (I
U (I
East Indians (south) 71 10 14.84
Africans (east) . 32 8 25.00
KaflSrs .... 49 1 14.28
Africans (west) 236 66 27.96
Lapps 22 1 (?) 4.54 (') Meat or fish, milk, cheese
;

The Gauchos, a cattle-breeding tribe, inhabiting the pampas of
La Plata, and subsisting on meat, are said to be free from caries,
while a related tribe in Chili, that subsists on bread, beans, meat,
etc., showed 19.3 per cent, of caries. Again, those Gauchos who
live in cities, and who eat mixed food and much sugar. al.<( > sutler
much from decav of the teeth.
A hasty examination of several skulls led Black ^^^ to the sup-
position that those races which consume much sour fruit are less
aflicted with caries than those living on meat and grain. But
when we rememl)er how the teeth are destroyed by a grape
cure, we can only regard the result of Black's investigation as
accidental, particularly as it was but a "hasty" one.
In one point, however, all examinations coincide. All authors
call attention to the fact that the Esquimaux, eertuin meat-eating
tribes of Xorth American Indians, Icelanders, and, as far as I
have observed, Lapps also, are almost entirely e.\eni]»t from
caries.