On one occasion our family went to a park for a picnic, and as my wife and I sat watching our children play, we beheld the most unsettling of sights. There was a child, perhaps eleven months of age, playing in the sand next to his mother, and he was eating handfuls of sand the way you and I consume handfuls of Planters Peanuts. One of his siblings brought this matter to the attention of his mother and her comment was, "Don’t worry about it; it won’t hurt him!" After watching him wolf down a few handfuls of sand, my stomach had to find another resting place.

If you have ever reclined on a beach on a day that is hot and humid, you have probably tasted sand. You’ve probably taken your forearm and directed it to your face to wipe away some perspiration and in so doing transferred some of the …