As the data are meagre, a consideration of the chemical alterations
associated with the scurvy of guinea-pigs and monkeys will be taken up
in conjunction with the metabolism of human scurvy. The therapy of
animal scurvy will also be deferred (chapter VI), as the reaction to
dietetic measures is practically the same in man and in animals. In
concluding this chapter we would call attention to the following
interesting statement contained in the recent paper by Delf and Tozer:
"In other experiments, however, where a liberal supply of an
antiscorbutic was given and where the fat-soluble A growth factor was
known to be deficient, the resulting histological changes in the
rib-junctions of the animals examined were found to resemble closely
those of 'Definite' or of 'Definite Chronic' scurvy. In these test cases
the antiscorbutic chosen was, we believed, deficient in the fat-soluble
A growth factor (for example, orange juice). This fact is mentioned
because in the case of an animal not receiving an adequate supply of
fat-soluble A the resulting changes in the junctions are not dissimilar
from, and are likely to be confused with, those caused by scurvy alone."
If this observation is confirmed, it emphasizes the necessity in
nutritional experiments, of constructing a dietary which is complete in
every respect except the one under investigation; it also suggests the
development of new pathologic entities in relation to other nutritional
disorders resulting from a lack of the accessory food factors.
CHAPTER VI
ANTISCORBUTIC FOODS
=Historical Review.=[39]--It is impossible to state when and how the
knowledge of the value of antiscorbutic foodstuffs came to be
appreciated. It is probable that the potency of herbs and fruits in
scurvy was known empirically to individuals and groups of people long
before the fact gained general recognition. A most interesting history
of antiscorbutics is given in the excellent work of Hirsch and in our
great classic on scurvy by Lind. The first realization of the value of
lemons and oranges seems to have been the result of a chance discovery.
Budd tells us that in the sixteenth century sailors of a Dutch sailing
vessel laden with these fruits were attacked with scurvy, and that, when
they partook of the lemons and oranges in the cargo, a miraculous cure
resulted. He narrates also the following striking incident, which is
mentioned likewise by Lind:
[39] It is of interest that John Hall, the son-in-law of Shakespeare,
and a prominent physician of Warwickshire, was one of the first to urge
the use of antiscorbutics. In a quaint work entitled, "Select
Observations on English Bodies, or Cures both Empericall and Historical"
(1657 London), he describes how he cured scurvy by means of brewing a
beer or ale from "Scorbutick hearbs, _viz._: scurvy grass, water-cresses
and brook lime." This book, which ran through at least two editions, has
not achieved the popularity of the works of the father-in-law.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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