Evening star., 1941-07-03
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
Englishmen, as a race, don't bite.
More successfully than any other race
they have suppressed the cannibalism OF
their prehistoric ancestors, much to their
own disadvantage in the present war
which still is on cannibalistic level.
This is the conclusion of DR.. Ignacio
Matte Blanco, Chilean psychoanalyst who
now is physician at the Henry Phipps
Hospital in Baltimore and for several
years practiced as private psychiatrist
in London, in report just issued by the
William A. White Psychiatric Founda-
ton here.
Germans bite, DR.. Blanco points out,
and so, probably, do Americans. He is
not SO sure of the Scotch, Welsh or Irish
Individual Englishmen may bite, but
they are so submerged in the general
pattern of the race that they have no
influence ON national policy. That is
why, DR.. Blanco holds, that the race
as a whole fights defensive war. 1t
revolts against cannibalism. This is also,
he says, the reason for the abominable
English cooking which offends every
foreign visitor. To Latin in whom the
racial cannibalistic attitude is we'll de-
veloped, he points out, this is especially
strange, but it explains why French,
Italian or South American cooking
is so much better.
He proceeds on the psychoanslytical
theory that the human being from birth
to maturity passes through various
mental stages through which the human
species has passed in evolution. One
of these stages is cannibalism. 1t has
been inhibited among all civilized people
but traces of it still remain in manners
and customs. The German or the Latin
still is a symbolic cannibal. The English
as race are so revolted, subconsciously,
by the thought that they have discarded
the symbols-even to the point of cutting
their meat thin so that eating it will
bring no suggestion of the strenuous
chewing required for a meal of human
flesh, and having their teeth pulled so
that they cannot be suspected of dining
on their fellowmen.
This psychological attitude, he says,
carries over to their dislike of hurting
the enemy--which in primitive society
would be throwing him alive into
pot of boiling water while the tribe
gathered around waiting for dinner. Dr.
Blanco attributes great faults to the
English race, from the viewpoint of
Latin civilization, but asserts they will
never "eat" their enemies, symbolically
or otherwise.
"Of all the occidental countries in
Europe" DR.. Blanco says, England is
the least refined regarding food. If we
go on to observe the habits of the
English with regard to the function Of
chewing we come across further pecu-
liarities. The dish which could properly
be called the English national dish,
roast beef, is prepared in such way as
" Ildkc CllcWIllsr IL llOI ulliIcICSodlS,
least a function that is reduced to a
minimum. But it would appear that the
special care taken to render food soft
would apply mainly to meat, which
seems to point a peculiarly strong re-
preston of cannibalistic impulses. 1t Is
not altogether by chance that the Eng
lishmen has been symbolized by the
-, of n
is not to bite but to hold fast.
TN the exercise of my duties as a
doctor 1 have been particularly struck
by the fact that there are considerable
numbers of the English people with arti-
fetal dentures. The reason usually given
is that the teeth of the English race are
particularly prone to carries. But I can
not help feeling that the people OF
England are rather prone to indulge in
the practice of tooth extraction for the
slightest reasons. One would almost
think that the practice is regarded with
a certain amount Of delight. Tooth
extraction may represent atonement for
cannibalistic impulses.
Another example of the tendency to
limit the movement of the jaws is
furnished by habits in the manner of
speaking There is an interesting gradua-
ton from the working to the upper class.
In order to acquire the so-called oxford
accent the Jaws have to remain espe-
cially immobile while the work OF
moding the actual words is left to the
back of the throat.
Thus it would appear that in Eng
land there are to be found a good many
small indications pointing to a strong
repression of cannibalistic impulses"
This is strikingly shown, he said, in
the development, of the British Empire,
compared to the Spanish conquest OF
what is now Latin America. England
never has fought-that is, symbolically
boiled helpless natives in pots and eaten
them in accordance with the ancient
cannibalistic impulse-until all hopes
of peaceful possession were passed. Other
nations have lost no opportunity to pick
q fight, even II the attitude Of the home
governments was benevolent.