As mentioned above, hemorrhages into the muscles or between the muscle
planes are very common in adults, leading to hard swellings, the typical
"scurvy sclerosis." Such effusions occur much less frequently in
infants, due probably to their lack of activity. In addition to these
hemorrhages there are serous effusions of the muscles similar to those
which are found in the pleural and pericardial cavities. These effusions
are very striking at necropsy, when one incises the muscles--for
example, the muscles of the thigh. During life they are frequently
mistaken for subperiosteal hemorrhages.
Less frequently there are _hemorrhages into the internal organs_. These,
however, play a comparatively insignificant rôle in the symptomatology
of this disease. At postmortem examination we find numerous hemorrhages
of the pleura, pericardium and peritoneum, which rarely produce
symptoms during life. Still records a case with marked abdominal pain
and swelling, which he believed to have been due to hemorrhage into the
wall of the intestine. As previously mentioned, O'Shea met with a case
of hemorrhage into the cæcum which was mistakenly operated upon for
appendicitis. Hæmothorax and hæemopericardium occur, especially
associated with local inflammatory processes of tuberculous nature. The
clinical aspect of hemorrhage of the gastro-intestinal and the
genito-urinary tracts will be considered elsewhere.
In the scurvy of adults as well as that of infants, _the nails and the
hair_ are altered by the nutritional condition. Mention has been made of
the hyperkeratosis recently emphasized by Wiltshire as an early sign,
occurring especially on the thighs and legs. The skin is frequently dry,
the so-called "goose skin" that is seen in some poor nutritional states.
The nails are thin, brittle and lined; at times small hemorrhages will
be noted beneath them. The hair also becomes thin and dry, and there is
a tendency for petechial hemorrhages to develop at the roots.
In a paper on the therapeutic value of yeast and of wheat embryo the
author called attention to the fact that _eczema_ may occur in
connection with infantile scurvy, and be cured by means of orange juice.
We have met with eight cases of eczema in infantile scurvy, which, in
almost every instance, have yielded promptly to an antiscorbutic, thus
proving their scorbutic nature. A case of this kind is the following:
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