154 THE VITAMINS 



and curable by its administration, but not recognizable by any of the 

 classic scorbutic signs." 



Jackson and Moore (1916) described experimental studies of scurvy 

 developing in guinea pigs kept under laboratory conditions on a con- 

 siderable variety of diets some of which contained foods supposed to 

 be more or less efficient as antiscorbutics. Post-mortem examinations 

 showed hemorrhages in the muscles, ends of bones, bone marrow, 

 skin and tooth pulp; swollen tender joints and fragile bones were also 

 common. The results of a bacteriological study of these cases were 

 described simultaneously by Jackson and Moody (1916). In the post- 

 mortem examinations which had been made, the staining of certain 

 tissues had suggested the presence of bacteria. Cultures from the af- 

 fected tissues showed diplococci of low virulence. Rabbits proved more 

 susceptible to inoculations with this organism than guinea pigs. Only 

 one rabbit died but all showed some stiffness and emaciation. Similar 

 bacteria were recovered from the lesions of inoculated animals as 

 long as 40 days later. When introduced into a second group of animals 

 these organisms failed to produce the disease. Cultures of the heart 

 blood did not show the organisms and blood transfused from diseased 

 to normal animals produced no changes. Animals which had been fed 

 adequate amounts of antiscorbutic food were less susceptible to 

 inoculations with these bacteria than poorly fed animals. These results 

 would seem to illustrate the likelihood that some of the symptoms 

 observed in scurvy may be more or less influenced by the effects pro- 

 duced by infectious organisms which may be in some degree charac- 

 teristic in the sense that they more readily develop upon a host weak- 

 ened by scurvy. The fact, however, that a much clearer picture of 

 scurvy develops with greater certainty as a result of purely dietary 

 causes, confirmed as it is by the great amount of work which has 

 been done upon experimental scurvy, leaves no doubt that the disease 

 should be regarded as essentially due to dietary deficiency, though per- 

 haps often complicated by infections and possibly by a particular infec- 

 tion to which the animal becomes more susceptible as a result of the 

 deprivation of the antiscorbutic vitamin. See also Findlay (1923) and 

 Werkman, Nelson and Fulmer (1924). 



Chick and Hume (1916-17) in a study of the distribution among 

 foodstuffs, especially those suitable for the rationing of armies, of 

 the substances required for the prevention of beriberi and scurvy, 

 emphasized the fact that the maintenance of adult human beings in 

 health requires an adequate intake of antiscorbutic food as Hess had 

 shown to be the case with children. They distinguished clearly, as 



