The Whispering Muse

VI. fish and culture

‘IN ITS EARLY STAGES the human heart resembles nothing so much as the heart of a fish. And there are numerous other factors that indicate our relationship to water-dwelling animals, were it no more than the fact that the human embryo has a gill arch, which alone would provide sufficient evidence that we can trace our ancestry back to aquatic organisms. The bone tissue of humans and animals consists of an organic solution, which when boiled produces a glue containing inorganic salts, principally calcium carbonate, but also composites of fluorine and magnesium. All these chemicals are found in solution in the sea, which is a further indication that land animals originally descended from sea creatures. The composition of blood also points the same way, for, as is well known, serious loss of blood can to a large extent be compensated for by using a 0.9 per cent saline solution, while pure diluted seawater has been successfully employed for the same purpose. Finally, it seems highly probable that far from being descended from the same species of mammal as the other animals that share dry land with him, man has from the beginning represented a unique branch of the mammal family. Our teeth bear witness to this. They resemble neither the teeth of carnivores nor those of herbivores but are, on the contrary, designed to chew the sustenance provided by the sea. It may be concluded that some unknown entity in the warm prehistoric oceans developed into a fish, and that this fish evolved into a higher life form that resembled man, which subsequently continued its development to become human (Homo sapiens). Let us therefore put forward the proposition that life colonised first the seas, then the land.

‘It has been claimed that primitive man had his breeding grounds in the forests, a notion that has its basis in the ape theory, but as far as Europe is concerned, and particularly Scandinavia, one must disregard this hypothesis. The oldest human remains on the continent, found on the north coast of Spain and in France, are 20,000 years old. There is every indication that these areas were home to a race of robust primitive men who shunned the forests and followed the coastline northwards, while those who headed inland chose to dwell by rivers and lakes where there was a prospect of fishing. The same was true of the aboriginal settlers of Scandinavia, who followed the edge of the ice sheet when the great glacier began to retreat at the waning of the Ice Age. Instead of following in the footsteps of the herbivores and the predators that preyed on them, they kept to the seashore, benefiting from the easy access to food.

‘It would be superfluous to describe in detail the Nordic race’s astonishing prowess in every field. People have observed with admiration the extraordinary vigour, stamina and courage with which these relatively few dwellers of island and shore are endowed. There is a vast corpus of heroic tales devoted to their feats, from ancient days down to our own. They number in their thousands. We need only quote Claudius, who declared: “They were proud of their height and looked down on the Romans for being so short.”

‘The Nordic type is generally taller and more powerfully built than the German; the German from north Germany is more developed than the German from south Germany; the German from south Germany is taller than the Italian, and the northern Italians are more physically robust than their southern counterparts. Thus men’s physical development diminishes the further one moves from the northern coastal settlements and the more interbreeding there has been between coast- and mountain-dwellers. Right up until the beginning of the modern era, that is the eighteenth century, communications between the upland and coastal districts all over Europe were fraught with difficulty. Coast dwellers could travel by sea but otherwise were thrown back on their own resources, consuming what they caught for themselves. Likewise, the inhabitants of the inland districts had to subsist on what they could produce wherever they settled, hemmed in as they were by valley or moorland. The consumption of such different diets later resulted in the considerable disparity that now exists between the development and temperament of these two groups.

‘As for miscegenation, suffice to mention here what the well-known Icelandic scholar, Dr Loftur Frodason, writes of the inhabitants of Iceland’s Trollaskagi peninsula: “They are a race who dwell in isolation and have lived a peaceful life almost untouched by the outside world for centuries, without interbreeding with other people. They are a robust, naturally intelligent and tall race. The men are handsome physical specimens, reminiscent of Bertel Thorvaldsen Gottskalkson’s sculpture of Jason, with powerful barrel chests and slender hips. The women are no less exceptional in terms of dignity, carriage and grace of movement.’

‘That A. Cargill, Mayor of Hull, had a similar view of these matters can be inferred from a talk he delivered to the Women’s Luncheon Club in 1934, in which he pronounced the following opinion:

‘“Medical science is on the brink of proving once and for all that seafood is the healthiest diet available to man.”

‘When men are prepared to declare so uncompromisingly that nutrients derived from the sea are essential to our health and boost both physical and mental development, one can hardly demur.

‘The “yellow peril” from the Far East lies in the innate energy and industriousness of the fish-eating nation of Japan. We can assume that the Japanese will swiftly overcome the problems resulting from the war, for they are endowed with the same qualities as the ancient Teutons who lived on the shores of Scandinavia yet conquered their way south to Rome and east to Constantinople. So we must ask ourselves: “Would it not make sense for them to combine forces, these great fishing nations that dwell on opposite sides of the earth?”

‘When Rome declined, the emperors tried to resist the trend, thus Caesar Augustus summoned the Senate to compose a bill on the treatment of fish, while Nero equipped extravagant fishing fleets with nets of silk and lines of gold wire. Is this not a case of cause and effect? Where is Rome now?

‘In conclusion, let us remember this:

‘Life originates in the ocean and the ocean is the source from which life must seek its nourishment. The Nordic countries with their fish-rich coastal waters will continue to foster and rear vigorous generations, to the benefit of mankind; the Nordic countries have made a huge contribution to world culture (both with regard to their racial qualities and their inventions — everything from the steam engine and electricity to the aeroplane and wireless); the Nordic countries are mighty — the might of the sea is boundless.

‘The sea is the mainspring of the Nordic nations!’

Lecture delivered to the crew of the

MS Elizabet Jung-Olsen, 13 April 1949