. Bulletin. Natural history; Science. More recently, as a result of a friendly disagreement with Professor Mangelsdorf on the edibility of ground whole teosinte seeds, in which he expressed doubt as to whether one could tolerate ingesting the fifty per cent or more roughage contributed by the shell, he suggested we appeal to Professor Nevin Scrimshaw, biochemist- nutritionist of , whom we both know and who has worked in the tropics with teosinte. We did so, and Scrimshaw proposed that I do the following experiment: Consume 75 grams of whole ground teosinte seeds on each of two successive
. Bulletin. Natural history; Science. More recently, as a result of a friendly disagreement with Professor Mangelsdorf on the edibility of ground whole teosinte seeds, in which he expressed doubt as to whether one could tolerate ingesting the fifty per cent or more roughage contributed by the shell, he suggested we appeal to Professor Nevin Scrimshaw, biochemist- nutritionist of , whom we both know and who has worked in the tropics with teosinte. We did so, and Scrimshaw proposed that I do the following experiment: Consume 75 grams of whole ground teosinte seeds on each of two successive days. If I experienced no ill effects, increase the intake to 150 grams per day for two more days. If there were still no unpleasant consequences, I would have made my case. I completed the experiment with no ill effects whatever. I have also had a try at cracking dried teosinte seeds with the same kind of primitive grinding-pounding stones that pre-Columbian Indians used, the metate and the mano. Field Museum kindly let me use archaeological specimens for this experiment. I convinced myself that an energetic person inspired by extreme hunger could in one day separate from the shell-kernel mixture enough shell-free teosinte to feed a small family that day. I have also satisfied myself that one can consume whole teosinte seeds without great difficulty by first soaking them until they have been sufficiently softened to masticate. Linguistics Such linguistic evidence as exists is consistent with the teosinte ancestry of corn. As pointed out by Professor Wilkes, in the Nobogame area of Chihuahua teosinte is known as madre de maiz (mother of corn), presumably from an earlier native designation. Does this term represent a kind of cultural memory? With many other existing native names for teosinte in the various parts of its range, this would appear to me to be a rewarding area for linguistic study. November 1972. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images t
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