[« Steve makes prison wine] [Iraq decision chronology »]
06/14/2005: Thought for the Day:
...Lewin offers a few additional insights on coprophagy, including 1.5 paragraphs on its practice among humans, the general message of which is that only pranksters and crazy people do this. "However," his inner scientist compels him to observe, "consumption of fresh, warm camel feces has been recommended by Bedouins as a remedy for bacterial dysentery; its efficacy (probably attributable to the antibiotic subtilisin from Bacillus subtilis) was confirmed by German soldiers in Africa during World War II." Never mind the cataclysmic case of the runs those German soldiers must have had to try this therapy. What I want to know is how the Bedouins figured it out: "Whoa, bacterial dysentery! Let's eat some camel crap."
--Cecil Adams
Len on 06.14.05 @ 05:54 AM CST
