Mid-Victorian, dat is rond 1860.
Dat is precies de tijd waarin George Catlin een reis maakte langs Indianenstammen om observaties te doen en tekeningen te maken.
Catlin geeft ter vergelijking ook observaties over het leven in die tijd in Engeland.. de helft van alle mensen die werden geboren in Londen en grote industriesteden stierf al voor het 5e levensjaar. Dus kun je nagaan.
Quote:
Like Dr. Price, George Catlin was concerned about the effects of western diets on their health: “... the most beautiful of them, which had chewed Buffalo meat for 25 years or a half Century, are now chewing bread...”
Their traditional food was simple: “Food of this tribe, fish, venison, vegetables... This Tribe I found living entirely in their primitive state; their food, Buffalo flesh and Maize, or Indian corn.”
Chief of the Pawnee-Picts, a powerful Tribe living on the headwaters of the Arkansas River, told me in answer to questions, ‘
we very seldom lose a small child—none of our women have ever died in childbirth—they have no medical attendance on these occasions—we have no Idiots or Lunatics —nor any Deaf and Dumb, or Hunch-backs, and our children never die in teething.’” The food of this tribe was “buffalo flesh and venison.”
In contrast, Catlin observed, “
in London and other large towns in England, and cities of the Continent, on an average,
one half of the human Race die before they reach the age of five years,
and one half of the remainder die before they reach the age of 25 yeas, thus leaving one in four to share the chances of lasting from the age of 25 to old age.” He noted statistics describing 20,000 idiots and 35,000 lunatics in England.
http://www.westonaprice.org/notes-from-yesteryear/100-years-before-weston-price