Chapter 7 Dance With The Devil By Gunther Schwab Written in 1963.

"WELL," WELL," SAID THE DEVIL, WITH A TWINKLE IN HIS EYE,

"what do you think of it?"

None of those present replied; each was busy with his own thoughts.

They had heard so much and what they had heard seemed to be burdening their minds.

"I see you've been impressed," said the Boss, in a tone of satisfaction,

but he was determined not to let the pressure slacken.

He pressed a button.

"Is Morf ready?"

Then he again turned to his guests. "Food is factor No. 1 in man's environment.

By a process of trial and error stretching over millions of years,

Nature has adapted the living organism to the given possibilities of nourishment.

I have set up a special and very important department,

whose object is by artificial means to deprive the food consumed by man of its nourishment."

The Head of the Dainty Foods Department now came in, and the Boss introduced him.

"This," he said, "is Morf, No. 26. Our guests are ready for you.

Fire away."

Morf began. "A natural food unchanged from its original state and produced

upon a healthy soil

is one of the means by which life is sustained.

The plan, which is contained in our genetic equipment can only be realized

if the building materials foreseen

by Nature are complete and are placed at our disposal, without any loss of their inherent values.

Only the simple foods with which Nature has provided us can guarantee the full development

of all our physical,

mental and spiritual potentialities.

“I inspired in man the presumptuous notion of changing his food in such manner as economic,

technical, fashionable or epicurean considerations might dictate, those of biology,

being of course, totally disregarded. As he became enslaved by the illusion of progress

this was all the easier to do.

Food was thus deprived of a great many of the living substances, which it normally contained.

He who eats dead substances invites his own death and my department has taken

over the important

and difficult task of converting the means of life into the means of death.

"My program is relatively simple. It involves the intensified and repeated processing

and heating of food, the removal from the diet of all foods made from wholemeal flour,

increase in the consumption of animal protein and fats, the progressive use of soft foods instead

of hard, and progressive refinement in the methods of food preparation.

Now, no human vice is so deeply rooted as our food habits, and nothing makes men more angry,

than any attempt to interfere with them.

The palate is a merciless tyrant. It rebels if it is deprived of the full subtlety of its pleasures;

every food that Nature has prepared for us is complete in itself. If only a fraction of its constituent

elements are removed their absence hinders the absorption and digestion of the rest,

so that these become virtually worthless. The calcium and phosphorus in skimmed milk

cannot be absorbed into the system because the butter fat is missing' What is really important,

however, is that deficient diet damages the genetic equipment."

"That's a bold statement," said Rolande, very much the doctor.

"Give her an example of what you say," said the Boss.

Morf thought for a moment.

"In my laboratory," he said, "healthy breeds of animals sicken within a single generation

if given food in which a single really vital element is missing. Rats are unable to breed

and become prematurely old, calves are born blind and pigs show malformation of the jaw,

while rabbits have their resistance so lowered that they fall victims to every infection.

I have tried experiments with cats —"

"Why not with human beings?" asked Sten, pointedly.

The Devil turned towards him. "Of course, we also experiment with human beings.

It's possible that you'll be shown this particular section, but in the present instance

it was necessary to have a quick succession of generations."

Morf continued: "My experiments were carried out over eight generations.

We gave cats a diet that was adequate in quantity but consisted entirely of cooked meat.

Even in the first generation they showed symptoms of degeneracy.

In the second generation there were already variations from the racial type such as a narrowing

of the middle of the face, as though the face were being pushed together; a pointed chin,

irregularities in the formation of the jaw and the position of the teeth.

The third generation would simply have died out if we hadn't saved it by giving it a proper diet.

But it took no less than four generations before normal animals were again being born."

Harding interjected. "And yet," he said, "meat is the natural food of beasts of prey,

but cooking destroys the vital substances."

Rolande said: "The human organism has completely adapted itself to cooked food."

Morf answered: "Of course it has, and since the digestive tract of nearly all civilized people

has grown sick, it can no longer get any value from healthy substances that are designed

to support life. The fact is that cooking weakens – in fact, usually destroys – vitamins,

enzymes and nutritive salts and changes the character of the most important minerals.

The blood of sufferers from cancer shows a remarkably small content of enzymes."

"That may be so," said the engineer, "but I feel perfectly fit and well."

"I daresay you do," replied Morf, "but even if you didn't, it's the way of people to speak

of all these various weaknesses, deterioration in the appearance and working capacity of man,

the tendency to grow tired easily, the lack of resistance to disease, his faulty metabolism

and various forms of self-poisoning; I say it's the tendency of people to speak of all these things

which are really due to faulty diet as though they were normal to a person of good health.

“In experiments on animals, vitamin deficiency in the mother has produced malformations

of the palate. And the same form of degeneration was found in the U.S.A. in 19 per cent

of the population as a whole, in 55 per cent of all criminals, 70 per cent of all epileptics,

80 per cent of the mentally sick and 82 per cent of the feeble-minded."

Rolande asked: "And you insist that these symptoms are all due to faulty nutrition?"

"There can be no doubt whatever about that. Vitamin ‘A’ deficiency in the mother

is a cause of blindness, sterility, clubfoot and other malformations."

Groot suggested, "Synthetic vitamins —"

The Boss: "Surely, you've raised that point before."

Morf smiled. "Nutritional science is still very young, Mr. Groot, and the infinitely complex

process of the wastage and building up of living tissue presents it with a whole army

of question marks? Its knowledge is wholly fractional. Don't fall a victim to the illusion that food,

which has had the life taken out of it, can be restored to its original nutritive value

by the addition of synthetic vitamins."

Sten said: "I should have thought that if a food supply is quantitatively sufficient,

deficiencies in quality could be made by the wide variety of the food available."

Morf smiled again. "You haven't really grasped the point. It's just those people who

have surpluses of food who are often the hungry ones. Symptoms of degeneration

attributable to malnutrition, for instance, are occurring in Denmark where the daily

intake per head is 3,300 calories, and in Ireland, where it is actually 3,485. Indeed,

they are quite widespread in those countries."

The Boss laughed. "Many of our worthy housewives still concentrate on quantity alone

and not on nutritional value when they serve up food for their families.

I'll bet not one of them knows how well she's serving me."

Morf continued: "Let's take Switzerland, with its high standard of living. In 1936 only 23 per cent

of the recruits had enjoyed a diet that was adequate in vitamins; 57 per cent showed signs of latent

vitamin deficiency and 10 per cent a marked deficiency of vitamin C. By 1941 these figures

had risen to 32 per cent, 67 per cent and 11 per cent respectively."

"Many generations have lived on this diet which you say has all these deficiencies and yet have

remained healthy. Nearly all of them reached a ripe old age.

Life is tough. For generations it resists death. Deficiencies in nourishment need not necessarily

lead to disease immediately. Disease appears gradually, first among a relatively small number

of individuals. The incubation period for sickness caused by faulty nourishment is anything from

between twenty to forty years. Whoever has a defective diet in youth, must ultimately pay the bill.

This creeping form of death causes no pain and that's why no one will believe that it's there

– until it's too late."

Groot said: "Isn't it reasonable to assume that men's natural instinct would select the right forms

of food? My own rule is that if I feel I want a thing, it's a sign my body requires it."

"I'm glad you mentioned that," laughed the Devil.

"By a process lasting thousands of years, Nature has discovered what is necessary and useful

for life, and has elevated this experience to the level of a law, compelling obedience to that law

through our instinct. This instinctive conduct begets tradition, thanks to which life can continue

on healthy lines even when the instinct has perished. My first and decisive victory over human life was

the extinction of instinct. Destruction of tradition is always a much easier job, but you will now

understand why in every department of life I am always against tradition."

Morf: "We have indeed extinguished man's natural instincts about food.

There is no race in the world today that can any longer distinguish between a healthy

and a harmful diet and I have seen to it that industry concentrates almost exclusively

on the production of food which is bound to produce disease."

The Devil: "Explain that a little further."

"The damage begins in infancy. The child is given food, which undermines its health

– and so happiness – for life. And I'm happy to inform you that many wide-advertised

children's foods produce definite defects in the bone structure.

These defects are primarily due to lack of calcium, which in its turn is due to a poverty of calcium

in the soil. If the diet has too little calcium, the body actually breaks down its own structure

so that it can thus obtain the calcium necessary for its glandular secretions and other phases

of the metabolic process. It begins to draw on the supply of calcium in the bones and the teeth.

“I've been able to introduce a brittle bone structure everywhere in the civilized world;

80 per cent of all bone fractures could be prevented if we could have living food stocks that

were 100 per cent adequate and had been produced on a healthy soil.

The consequences of calcium deficiency are malformations of jaws and teeth, dental decay,

hare-lip, and split palates. Too narrow a chest makes children predisposed to consumption,

while underdevelopment of the pelvis prolongs birth pains and leads to miscarriages and still-births,

and ultimately to a shortage of children because women will no longer take the risk of bearing them."

"Doctors can always prescribe calcium, and so can either heal or mitigate these disabilities."

The Devil: "In which case, you will again be treating the symptom rather than the disease."

Morf: "Mineral deficiency in diet leads to tiredness, a decline in the efficiency of the internal organs,

internal haemorrhages and varicose veins. Vitality is lowered,

and life begins to seem pointless and valueless."

The Devil: "Excellent, Morf ! Resignation and indifference serve my purpose of ultimate ruin very well."

"With the aid of so-called civilized diet I have turned mankind into a dull, seemingly

– but only seemingly – satisfied herd of fat, constipated, toothless, flat-footed, diseased animals.

I must, however, as the Dainty Food Fiend, claim a special credit for my achievement in the battle

against the mind. The efficiency of the brain depends on an adequate supply of organic minerals,

such as iron, calcium and sodium. Since these are almost wholly absent in our modem dainty diet,

the mind naturally tends to fall sick."

The Devil laughed. "I like that a lot, Morf."

"The effects of malnutrition on man's spiritual life are particularly excellent.

A diet deficient in roughage and robbed of its most valuable elements,

and especially one with an excessive amount of meat, leads to acidity and so to an abnormal excitability

of the nervous system. Indeed, the unhealthy state of the bowel tends to poison body,

mind and spirit alike.

"We carried out experiments with two colonies of rats. One was given generous quantities

of an inadequate diet and this group tended to attack one another; the others were adequately

fed and lived together in complete peace. It's the same with human beings.

Primitive peoples who live on their customary natural diet and are consequently in perfect health

show an even temper, constancy and harmony; they are industrious, hospitable and co-operative.

When they become civilized, which means when they begin to live on artificially-processed foods,

they become treacherous, irritable, restless, erratic and incalculable."

"What foods have you particularly in mind?" asked Groot.

"My best and most reliable means of spreading disease are white sugar and white flour.

They lack the soluble plant substances, which produce vitamins A and C and also a great part

of the minerals; they are dead substances, completely divorced from those which Nature

had originally combined them. People say that these foods are at worst 'harmless',

but these so-called harmless foods in the long run do much more damage

than an occasional good dose of poison.

"My second trusted ally in this decisive battle against human health is factory-white sugar."

"What have you got against sugar?" asked Groot. "So far as I'm aware, it's absolutely indispensable."

"You are quite right. Sugar, which plants form as a food and as a building material,

is a fundamental element in life. It is contained in sugar cane in quantities of 14 per cent

and in sugar beet in quantities of 17-20 per cent and is therefore highly valuable as a form

of nourishment. Indeed, it is indispensable, since it contains, in organic form, all the mineral-building

materials required for life.

“In the factory, however, sugar is subjected to a long and complicated process.

The sugar juice is heated with slaked lime, which causes the destruction of calcium salts and protein.

Thanks to the alkaline reaction all vitamins are also destroyed. During further phases of the process

the sugar comes into contact with caustic calcium, carbonic acid, sulphur dioxide

and sodium bicarbonate. It is then cooked several times, cooled, crystallized and centrifuged.

The molasses are then de-sugared by means of strontium hydroxide.

"After this, the now lifeless mass is taken to the refinery. It is cleaned with calcium carbonate,

bleached with sulphuric acid, filtered with charcoal, and coloured with poisonous ultra-marine

or some other equally deleterious material„ The end product of this is a chemical substance

known as sucrose C,,H 20,1 which is sold in the shops as powdered sugar, caster sugar,

granulated sugar, cube sugar and so on. Factory-made sugar has lost contact with all the

vitalizing salts and oxidization ferment, and is an artificial product wholly devoid of life,

for the digestion of which the human organism is not equipped.

All vital and protective substances have either been removed, de-natured or reduced

to wholly negligible proportions. The end product of the factory process has a density

of 98.4 to 99.5 per cent and as such acts simply as a poison."

"That's a sweeping claim," said Rolande, "let's have some proofs of it."

Morf: "Ask a farmer what happens when he uses a manure that's concentrated to seven times

the strength the land can absorb. All plant life dies off. It's much the same with factory-white sugar.

It's an irritant to the mucous membrane, the glands, the blood vessels and the digestive organs;

such sugar is the only food which contains no water; it is deficiency food No. 1;

it acts like a burglar in the organism, brutally appropriating all the vital substances,

trace elements and organic minerals which are essential to its absorption into the body.

Such sugar combines very easily with calcium and so, like white flour,

drains it away from bones and teeth.

"Moreover, it changes the quality of the saliva, so that teeth are also attacked from outside.

The fluids surrounding the teeth have a pressure of about 7 atmospheres. Factory-made sugar

has an osmotic pressure of 33.8 atmospheres over that of saliva. It therefore forces itself like

a wedge with an additional pressure of 27 atmospheres through all the cracks in the teeth.

Further, coarse substances that are rich in minerals stimulate intestinal movement;

the fact that they are wholly lacking in refined sugar serves most admirably to hinder the motion

of the bowel. The more sugar man absorbs, the more sluggish the bowel becomes,

and there is a whole host of very potent diseases for which we can thank

this sluggishness of the bowel."

Rolande: "There are means of combating that."

"That's just what's so magnificent about it," answered Morf. "Chemical laxatives complete

the work of undermining health from within. The disturbances caused by sugar,

especially in the bodies of children, are most satisfactory.

Of the 80,000 little children which die annually in France,

more than half are the victims of sugar which has been put into their milk.

“It's not the germs that are contained in milk, but the sugar that brings indigestion

in its train as well as enteritis, acute diarrhoea, restlessness and nervous symptoms of every kind.

Sugar, moreover, is the indirect cause of various infections from which children suffer;

so I do my utmost to persuade parents, uncles and aunts and all other kind-hearted relatives

that they're doing children a kindness by giving them plenty of sugar, sweets, chocolates and so on.

There isn't a single plant that could develop root, buds, stems, leaves, blossoms, let alone fruit,

from industrial sugar. You can store sugar for as long as you pleased without any risk.

The only things that can be stored thus for unlimited periods are dead things.

“Whoever absorbs dead things into his body brings his own death nearer."

Sten: "Since coarse brown sugar is perishable it seems reasonable to suppose that it still

has a certain amount of life. In that case, it would appear to be preferable —"

Morf: "It still has some living substances in it and some minerals which are lacking in white sugar.

But don't forget that sugar beet requires more artificial manure than almost any other

agricultural product. Coarse sugar contains very little calcium and even less iron than white bread,

though it has a very high alkaline content and a high content of chlorine.

"Despite considerable progress in diagnosis, diabetes has become one of the most important

forms of illness.

Mortality from diabetes was never so high as it is now and it's still rising."

"Diabetes has nothing to do with sugar," said Rolande.

Morf: "Then why is it that the first thing you do when you treat a diabetic is to forbid him sugar?

And why is it that there's a clear correlation between the number of deaths from diabetes

and the extent of sugar consumption?"

Rolande: "I'd like to see some proof of that."

Morf: "Let's take the case of Denmark. Let's take the number of deaths from diabetes per

100,000 inhabitants and set it beside the sugar consumption per head per year :

1880 – 1.8 deaths and 13.5 kilograms

1911 – 8.0 deaths and 37.6 kilograms

1934 – 18.9 deaths and 51.3 kilograms."

Rolande: "Even if there were no flaw in your argument, you forget that we can cure diabetes

by insulin treatment."

Morf: "Did you say that you can cure diabetes? I bow down low before the majesty

of official medicine.

Let's look at England. Before the introduction of insulin, deaths from diabetes were as follows :

in 1920, 110 per million inhabitants; in 1922, 119; and in 1925, 112. After the introduction of insulin,

deaths from diabetes were as follows : in 1926, 115 per million; in 1928, 131 per million;

in 1929, 142; and in 1931, 145.

"Insulin delays death, but it does not prevent it. No, madame! A disease as devastating

as diabetes simply cannot be overcome at all, as long as there are people who eat refined sugar.

In the U.S.A. today, 21 children out of every 100,000 are already condemned to a diabetic death,

if the consumption of sugar remains constant. Since, however, it is steadily rising,

we can reckon with even greater successes than these.

"And here's another interesting and significant fact. Denmark has a higher consumption of sugar

than any other European country, and here every fifth person suffers from cancer.

In half a century the Swedish consumption of sugar increased nine-fold. In 1880, it was 5.5 kilograms;

in 1914, 28.5 and in 1929, 55.0 kilograms per head of the population and every sixth person

suffers from cancer. Norway's consumption per capita is five times greater than that of Italy.

The population of Norway is 3.3 million and of Italy 46.6 million, yet Norway has more dentists than Italy.

And, of course, there is much more dental decay there. One might also again add that every sixth person

in Norway suffers from cancer.

Sten shook his head. "It's incredible that even now man does not recognize the danger."

Morf gave a superior smile. "We have turned men into blindly obedient slaves to the pleasures

of the palate. Industrial sugar, white bread, cakes, sweets and pastry are much too firmly established

for any power to interfere with them. A really effective struggle against these instruments of degeneration

would shake the economy to its foundations, so no such struggle will ever take place.

On the one side is the vast capital of the sugar syndicate and the power of purchased consciences

and publicity; on the other stands truth, without capital and helpless. If there were ever to be war

between the two, it is obvious who would I the victor."

"I can only repeat," said Groot, "that all my life I have lived on a so-called civilized diet

and I can also claim that I am in perfect health."

"Have you ever had toothache, Mr. Groot?"

"Of course I have, but that's no disease."

"I never knew that health caused pain. Have you still got all your teeth?"

"No, but they've all been quite adequately replaced."

"Aha! And your teeth – I mean the ones you still have got

left, are they all completely sound? No decay? No fillings?"

"What's the point of all these questions?"

"My assistant, Caries, will tell you about that."

Morf clapped his hands. A dainty, rather pale woman, with a fanatical expression on her face,

came into the room. The guests turned to her with a new interest.

"A lady devil," whispered Groot.

"Well, why should all the devils be men?" asked Harding.

The lady devil took no notice of those present, but went with short steps towards the great desk,

and bowed her head a little in greeting. In a high but nevertheless impressive voice,

she began her report.

"Man has long ago been written off by creation; he still breathes because he has fraudulently

achieved survival against all the laws and the will of Nature."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?" said Groot with a laugh.

"To say nothing of it being completely unintelligible."

Caries was silent for a little, and stood with bowed head, but presently, with no change in the pitch

of her voice, she continued: "Nature protects the individual only so long as that individual serves life.

When it becomes old and feeble and has paid its debt to life, it is allowed to die. Its teeth fall out.

That is the signal, it means 'you are no longer of any value, you should no longer eat';

it means, 'you must die'."

"A natural physiological process, with nothing frightening about it," said Rolande,

who instinctively disliked this lady devil.

Caries continued: "It's not a natural physiological process when a man's teeth begin to decay in youth,

or do so when he should be in the full possession of all his powers, or even when he is still a baby."

"But human skill can repair such damage," said Groot.

The lady devil turned sharply towards him. "I admit that dentists have put many an obstacle in my path.

In the long run, however, they'll never be able to disturb my programme."

"Well, let's wait and see," rejoined Rolande.

"Dental enamel is the hardest substance found in the body of any vertebrate.

The teeth of prehistoric animals have lain for a hundred thousand years in the ground

without losing any of their polish. Even healthy human teeth, when all other parts of the body

have decayed, can resist the influences of heat, frost, damp and dryness, bacteria and acids,

over periods of thousands of years. The tooth is a veritable bastion of life. When it falls sick,

then life itself is in decline. The Dainty Diet Fiend has honoured me with a particularly difficult task,

namely the storming of this bastion, and in all modesty I can say that I have succeeded in it."

"Don't celebrate your victories too soon, Miss Caries," said Rolande.

"Man is on his guard; he's armed.

Science is preparing for a counter attack.

The number of dentists is rising all over the world.

School hygiene, even among primitive peoples, is steadily being extended."

Caries gave a deprecatory smile. "The vanishing of teeth is not an isolated matter;

it is the symptom of a much deeper general sickness. An alarm signal that the metabolism

has been interfered with, that health as a whole is threatened. Man has completely failed to grasp this.

He stops up the holes, and then thinks he's done all that's necessary.

"Actually, even when teeth have been filled, they still have infection lurking round the roots,

infections which can produce rheumatism, kidney, liver, stomach, intestinal,

heart and even eye troubles — indeed, can lead to a general sepsis.

There are connections between decaying teeth and the signs of all-round degeneration,

which, in its turn, leads to a lowering of ability, an increase in mental sickness and criminality.

The connections between these things are not always evident, but they are nevertheless real."

"All this is unproven assumption," said Rolande, but Caries was not to be shaken.

"If dental deterioration were an isolated phenomenon in a world that was otherwise healthy,

things would be bad enough, for this is something that is developing all over the world

at a much greater speed than your so-called dental hygiene. All the efforts of man in this direction

will only very slightly delay the ultimate catastrophe; they will be unable to prevent it.

Ninety-eight per cent of all civilized human beings have bad teeth."

Rolande, however, remained obstinate. "Then all the more important and responsible is the task

of doctors and dentists. They're well aware of this

– but it would be a waste of time to explain medical ethics to a devil."

Caries: "Persons whose teeth have been under particularly heavy attack by me often show

a narrowing of the dental curve, and a shrinking of the middle third of the face,

which can only be regarded as a form of degeneration.

Twenty-five per cent of Americans are affected by this narrowing of the dental curve.

In some parts of the U.S.A., the percentage is as high as 75, and in a school of children in need of care

and protection in Cleveland, it was found that almost all the children had deformed curvature of the teeth.

Among the 2,400 children examined in Switzerland, 70 per cent showed faulty positioning

of the teeth and similar phenomena were observed in Western Germany.

It's obvious that we are confronted by a rapidly spreading form of degeneration.

The jaw tends to become stunted and becomes too narrow for the teeth it's supposed to carry.

As a result, the teeth break through in a disorderly fashion,

and cannot perform their task properly as instruments for chewing."

Rolande: "In such cases the dentists can help, and often actually get rid of the whole trouble."

Caries: "That's only partly true, but in any case, the underdevelopment of the whole bone structure

that often runs parallel with this dental trouble cannot be corrected.

Civilization is a plague, which carries the seeds of degeneration wherever it goes.

The white man, with his superb confidence in himself, carries his supposed blessings

to the backward races wherever he goes, and in particular refined sugar, refined white four

and all manner of preserves, marmalade, chocolate and pastry;

in short, everything that a high-pressured food industry can put on to the market

in the way of worthless merchandise."

The Devil laughed. "That's how they open up gold mines for the medicine men

and the pharmaceutical industry."

Caries continued: "The result is that dental decay sets in even among quite exceptionally

healthy people. Since the world began the Eskimos in Alaska have maintained their health,

despite all the hardships of their life. But once they began to eat manufactured food,

I was able to introduce widespread dental decay within a single generation.

Along with dental decay there came changes in the shape of the face,

difficulties in child-birth, and tuberculosis."

"Could the Eskimos return to their old diet, once they've seen the devastating consequences

of civilization?" asked Sten.

Caries: "Why should they appreciate something that even the white man in his blindness

completely fails to see? Besides, civilization has had yet another result.

The natural basis of the Eskimos food supply is beginning to disappear.

Since the great canning factories send thousands of people to Alaska, so that they can make

their annual export of 120 million kilos of tinned salmon to the world, and since modern weapons

have destroyed the greater part of wild life and even seals have become rare,

it has become impossible for the original inhabitants to obtain a natural and healthy diet."

The Boss joined in the conversation at this point. "Our fashions in furs is another cause

of the ruin of the Eskimo people."

Sten: "How does that come about?"

The Devil: "When the Eskimos are persuaded by the fur dealers to concentrate on catching foxes,

they can't store up an adequate food supply for the winter, so all they can do

is buy food in the shops – and get toothache as the result."

"So you definitely deny," said Groot, "that the white man has either the right or the ability

to transmit culture and civilization?"

"I will answer your question by another," said the Devil. "Is the white man,

who has himself become decadent and culturally uncreative, any longer in a position to distinguish

between a high and a low level of culture? Indeed, what does he understand by culture?

If what he means by that is automobiles, television sets and bad food, I feel sorry for him.

The crime that, in his presumption, the white man has committed against primitive peoples,

is so enormous that it can never be wiped out."

"I can only reply that in this department the white man has some superb achievements to show."

"I'm anxious to hear what they are," said the Devil, with a sneer.

Groot said, "The Canadian Government has given the Indians some fertile land,

has instructed them in the methods of modern agriculture, has given them schools and hospitals.

In many reserves they are very prosperous; their standard of living is indistinguishable from

that of the white farmers. In the great reserve at Brantford, Ontario, there are Indians from various tribes.

They have cars and every other modern convenience."

The Boss: "What does the Dainty Food Fiend say to that?"

Morf came forward. "He's quite right," he said, "but the Indians have followed the evil example

of the white man, and their land is not so much a source of life for them as a place for mechanized

manufacture of goods. The agricultural produce is sold, while the Indians themselves live from

the food of the cities. Along with their old way of life, they have lost their old health.

The spread of various forms of degeneracy disease is so great that the Indian population

has fallen victim to a kind of lethargy, and the chief impression made by the reserves is one of want."

"Miss Caries has told us very little about how civilized people came to lose their teeth,"

said Rolande, "but perhaps we can be told something about that, too?"

The lady devil picked up another file. "Until the sixteenth century, dental decay was rare in Europe.

In the centuries that followed it, while a number of our Department

increase, one hundred and fifty years ago, my section was set up within the Dainty Foods Department.

Then came the age of manufactured foods, and I was able to spread dental decay over a large area.

The loss of teeth rises with the standard of living; Switzerland, Holland and Sweden lead the way.

Only 2 per cent of the population of Britain has perfect teeth;

40 per cent have complete or partial false teeth.

"I have excellent results with the children of Norway. Dentures are quite common

as a confirmation present, my agents in Germany are anxious to catch up with all these gains

on the part of the other countries. In one district of Berlin, 49.5 per cent of the children born in 1943

were found to be free of dental trouble when they entered school; the figure for subsequent years were,

for those born in 1944, 42.8 per cent, for those born in 1945, 24.3 per cent

and those born in 1946, 17.1 per cent; those born in the years 1947 to 1954,

only showed an average of 10.9 per cent. That means that 90 per cent of the children

were suffering from dental decay. The increase in the pace of progress is really most gratifying."

"What's the position in America?" asked Sten.

"Out of 12,000 children in San Francisco, only 720, that is to say 6 per cent, had sound teeth.

In Canada, when recruits were being mustered for the Korean war, 6,550 out of 6,750 men had

to have urgent dental treatment; in Switzerland, between 85 and 98 per cent of the population

suffer from dental decay. I can therefore say without fear of exaggeration that in all civilized

countries the teeth of the people have been thoroughly and irrevocably destroyed."

"Are you finished, Morf ?"

"Not quite, Boss."

"Well, wrap it up as soon as you can, will you? My guests are getting tired."

"The way civilized man is treating his own food the world over today is really nothing less

than a gamble with disease.

“Soon, it will be a gamble with death. The deficiency in vital nutritive elements in the diet,

and the exaggerated stimulation of the palate, increases the appetite for food.

Civilized man eats three to five times as much as he actually needs.

The digestive apparatus is simply not equipped to deal with such continual over-loading.

Man already has this vice fed into him in infancy by loving parents; the stomach is distended,

the bowel becomes slack and constipated. Since the digestive apparatus is always working

at high pressure, the belly takes the place of the brain as the most important part of the human organism.

“With obesity becoming ever more widespread, there is more proneness to disease

and the effects of disease. The result from a de-natured diet become more acute.

This applies especially to heart diseases, gallstones, high blood pressure, diabetes,

rheumatism and so on. Obesity and expectation of life stand in inverse ratio to one another.

Of every ten people now thirty years of age, three will live to be eighty if they are slender,

but only one if they are fat. Diabetes kills four times as many fat people as it does slender people.

People whose measurements round the waist are two inches greater than their measurements

round the chest have 53 per cent more likelihood of dying of cancer between the ages of thirty

and forty-five than those of normal dimensions."

Morf turned towards his lord and master. "That, Boss, concludes my report. I have presented

mankind with what is an apparent superfluity of food. I have thus strengthened their presumption,

which causes them to experiment, nay, if I may so express myself, to play the very devil

with the gifts of the earth. I've subjected them to the dictatorship of the palate,

and to that of the food industry."

"You cannot expect a society which has attained a high level of culture to live in a completely

primitive fashion," objected Groot.

Morf said: "You fall into the error of all intellectuals.

They have a low opinion of primitive peoples because of their way of life and their food habits,

and they overlook the fact that these simple folk are, for this very reason, immeasurably

the white man's superiors. With their frugal diet they enjoy the true riches of the world.

"Mankind, like the individual bodies of its members, is in a pathological condition of general

disorganization. In these circumstances factors, which are normally harmless tend

to become sources of danger. I submit that it's a tremendous achievement, and one surely meriting

your recognition, to have undermined the health of the human race, which has maintained

its vigour for thousands of years, to such an extent that mankind now stands at the edge of the abyss."

The Devil nodded. "I appreciate what you have done."

Sten had again been lost in thought. "One would have thought," he said at last, "that in a supposedly

rational society, all the various authorities which profess to have concern for national health would

do everything in their power to assure everybody sufficient high-value foodstuffs,

so as to sustain a vigorous life."

Morf smiled. "The governments and parliaments have other interests than the health of their people.

Indeed, they may well be supporting our efforts to bring about the ruin of mankind

in a most extraordinary fashion. Many de-natured foods, though they have been subjected

to a costly manufacturing process, are actually cheaper than the natural and valuable

means of nourishment."

Morf gathered his papers together, gave a little bow and left the room.

Caries followed him.

The Boss looked slyly from one to the other of his guests. On each face there was a question

– a whole host of questions. The Devil raised his hand and waved them aside.

"I know, I know," he said. "There are a lot of things you'd like to ask me about,

but I must disappoint you.

At the end of the course, I'll gladly place myself at your disposal.

Today, it I've a lot of work to do. By tomorrow morning,

I should have dealt with the most urgent of it."

"But do you never sleep?" asked Rolande.

"The Devil never sleeps, dear lady. I wish you a pleasant evening, and good night."

"Very well," said Sten, "we'll eat supper without him. We'll be able to talk,

we'll be able to take counsel with one another, how to get out of this confounded trap.

Harding will have to help us."

But he was mistaken. A footman appeared, and beckoned Rolande to follow him;

then Groot was led away, and finally, Sten. Each was escorted up to his own room,

and once there, the door closed.

They were alone, and could not exchange a word among themselves.

* * * * * *