2o8 • INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



frequently than in those with polyneuritis columbarum. Degenerative changes 

 were also found in the nerve cells of the intestinal and suprarenal sympathetic 

 ganglia. Wallerian degeneration was likewise noted in the femoral nerve of 

 monkeys on diets deficient in vitamin B, but not in controls. 



Scorbutus. — In human scurvy, no lesions in the peripheral nerves were 

 found by Schodel and Nauwerk ('oo), Sato and Nambu ('08) or Aschoff and 

 Koch ('19), the last named having examined the vagus in 22 cases. In experi- 

 mental scurvy in the guinea pig, Hoist and Frolich ('12) observed frequent indi- 

 cations of Wallerian degeneration in the nerves, often typical in isolated 

 fiber-bundles, but attached no great significance to the findings. Ingier ('13) 

 also found a variable degree of degeneration in the peripheral nerves (including 

 sciatic, peroneal, vagus and phrenic) of scorbutic guinea pigs. Hess ('20) states 



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Fig. 66. — A portion of a cross section of the thoracic spinal cord in a young fowl subjected 

 to aqueous inanition (dry diet). Stained by the Pal method, showing some nerve fibers of the 

 white matter (above) and a portion of the adjacent grey matter (below). Several atrophic 

 and shrunken ventral horn cells appear; also some vacuoles where cells have disappeared. 

 The neuroglia shows proliferation of nuclei. X266. (Pernice and Scagliosi '95a.) 



that the sheaths of the large nerves as well as those of the vessels are very often 

 invaded by hemorrhage in scurvy. The extravasated blood is found to lie 

 around but rarely among the nerve fibers, which show no pathological changes. 

 Aqueous Inanition. — In a dog which died after n days on dry bread, Pernice 

 and Scagliosi ('95, '95a) found that the sciatic nerve fibers appear below normal 

 in size and stain less intensely (by alum-carmine and Weigert's method). But 

 few structural changes were observed, including a thickening of the perineurium 

 and (partly) of the endoneurium, accompanied by a slight round cell infiltra- 

 tion. In 3 chicks which died after 8-10 days on a dry maize diet, the sciatic, 

 vagus and glossopharyngeus nerves were studied in cross section (Schultze- 

 Ranvier method), showing atrophy of the medullated fibers, and granular 

 degeneration of the myelin sheath . Irregular and poor staining of the medullated 

 fibers was also found in teased preparations (Fig. 67). The axone is often 

 atrophic, and may show irregular swellings and deformities (especially when 



