366 THE VITAMINES 



THERAPY 



Roussel (I.e. 1279) stated in 1866 that dietetic measures were of 

 greatest importance in combating pellagra, a view in which a great 

 number of investigators are agreed, including Royer (1366) who 

 expressed himself similarly in 1835. Lombroso (I.e. 1325) saw that 

 a meat addition produces an extraordinarily favorable effect. Kleim- 

 inger (1367) cured 12 pellagrous lunatics by means of diet, and 

 Lorenz (1368) made considerable use of the dieto-therapy. Elebash 

 (1369) used green vegetables and fruit juices; Allison (1370) used 

 milk, eggs and fruits; Sylvester (1371) at first used fruit juices, then 

 skim milk and eggs. Bravetta (1372), Willets (1373) and Ridlon 

 (1374) proceeded similarly. The latter treated 51 cases with a spe- 

 cially selected diet, 48 of which recovered. Goldberger, Waring and 

 Willets (1375) tested, in some asylums, a diet consisting of milk, meat 

 and vegetables, with a decrease of carbohydrates, and obtained very 

 good prophylactic and therapeutic results. Voegtlin, Neill and 

 Hunter (1376) used a vitamine therapy in their practice, with the 

 following results; with vitamine B, no results were evident, while with 

 vitamine A, in the form of liver and thymus extracts, some result was 

 obtained but it was not very marked. Sherman (1377) recommended 

 milk as a prophylactic. 



As we have noted, the best results were obtained by dietary 

 changes; in fact, the complex products designated as animal protein 

 proved effective. We have already pointed out that with the addi- 

 tion of meat, eggs or milk, not animal protein alone is added, but also 

 food complexes which are, for the most part, unknown. By this 

 means, a diet rich in carbohydrates and poor in protein is changed 

 to one poor in carbohydrates and rich in protein, whereupon the 

 entire nutrition undergoes a radical change. The modern conception 

 of the etiology of pellagra is based upon the above findings. 



ETIOLOGY OF PELLAGRA 



Pellagra occurs chiefly on corn. In this connection, a series of 

 hypotheses were proposed to explain the nature of pellagra, which, 

 however, we can not discuss here. Even the proponents of the infec- 

 tion theory, for example, Siler, Garrison and MacNeal (1378) partially 

 admit that the diet also plays a role in this disease. Tanner and 

 Echols (1378) point out that it is not enough merely to give a 



