| Cream, | |scurvy | | aerog. |{ bact. about | water, | | | |B. coli |{ equal. Many | flour, | | | |M. ovalis|{ lact. aerog. | sugar, | | | |B. |{Putrefactive | also cereal | | | | bifidus |{ bact. in | | | | |B. |{ minority. | | | | | welchii | |Malt soup and|Feb. 11|More | Do. |B. lact. |{Gram + bact. in | cereal | |marked | | aerog. |{ great majority | | | | |M. ovalis|{ (B. bifidus). | | | | |B. |{Spore bearers | | | | | bifidus |{ very few. | | | | |Dipher- |{Flora not at all | | | | | oids |{ putrefactive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There are those who believe that scurvy is of _bacterial origin_, some going so far as to regard it as a communicable disease. This viewpoint was maintained by the famous Boerhaave and supported with all the weight of his authority by Villemin in the seventeenth century. It is a view held by many, if not by the majority, of physicians in Russia to-day, and recently has been advanced by European army surgeons. This question illustrates in an interesting manner how the trend of the day influences medical thought--it has been suggested lately by Much and Baumbach that the scurvy microörganism may be carried by means of lice. But clinical experience points absolutely against the infectious nature of scurvy. Indeed, the only episode which lends any support to this opinion is its widespread and seemingly epidemic character; the fallacy of such deductions has been well illustrated in regard to beriberi, which for many years was regarded as an infectious and communicable disease. The fact that whenever scurvy occurs among a body of troops the officers are spared, constitutes convincing evidence against its communicability. This peculiarity of incidence was noted by Hoerschelman and others in the recent World War, and is referred to in the Report of the War of the Rebellion. Many of the earlier writers, in discussing the occurrence of ship scurvy, drew attention to the paucity of cases among the officers. When we turn to bacteriological studies we find that some years ago Ausset claimed to have isolated "a pasteurella type of organism" from a case of infantile scurvy, and suggested it as the causative agent of this disorder. On the other hand, Hart, Rehn, Hirschsprung, von Starck, Schmorl, and recently Boerich, have failed to find bacteria in the blood, although the total number of cultures must be admitted to have been small. Czerny and Keller report negative bacterial growth from fluid aspirated from affected joints.