Geophagists

Parisians, wholesomely blase to most human foibles, read last week with revulsion of the strange cravings of geophagists.

Atop Montmartre there flourish not only tourists in search of vi- carious pleasure, but also some few who indulge themselves. Last week the learned ethnologist, Professor Charles Fegdal, revealed that these Montmartroise have ever had peculiar tastes.

Said he, "I have discovered that even in prehistoric times Montmartre was the resort of geophagists, or 'dirt eaters' who came from leagues around to partake of the succulent and nutritive clay still to be found in this part of Paris. . . . Apparently clay eating continued in Montmartre until comparatively recent times. . . . For example, when Charlotte Corday assassinated the revolutionary demagogue, Jean Paul Marat on July 13, 1793, she may not have known that he had just quaffed a decanter full of powdered Montmartre clay steeped in almond water."