VITAMIN C 163 



gums bled easily and there was a copious flow of pus. If the condition 

 was not too far advanced it could be checked promptly, with complete 

 recovery, by supplementing the diet with orange juice. By alternating 

 deficient with normal diets it was possible to produce distinct markings 

 in the enamel of the teeth. Other decalcified areas were noted in the 

 maxillary bones and ribs and in the bones of the head and legs. 



Robb, Medes, McClendon, Graham, and Murphy (1921) reported 

 a rapid loss of calcium from the bodies of guinea pigs on a scorbutic 

 diet. The teeth on sectioning showed marked hyperemia of the pulp, 

 with some hemorrhage. The odontoblasts were considered to secrete 

 osteodentin which in some cases nearly filled the space normally occu- 

 pied by the pulp, the change described by Zilva and Wells (1919) as 

 fibroid degeneration. 



Toverud (1923) from histological studies of the teeth of the scor- 

 butic guinea pigs in Howe's investigation confirmed in general the 

 conclusions of Zilva and Wells and of Robb et al. concerning the degen- 

 eration of the pulp tissue. The process was found to begin with hemor- 

 rhages in the upper part of the pulp and to extend down towards the 

 apex of the tooth. In the more severe cases the entire pulp cavity became 

 filled with bone or osteodentin. 



Findlay (1921c), as the result of an investigation of the changes 

 in the blood and vascular system in guinea pigs in progressive stages 

 of scurvy induced by a diet of oats and bran supplemented with auto- 

 claved milk, came to the conclusion that the essential lesion in scurvy 

 is the interference with the nutrition of the capillary endothelium, re- 

 sulting in stagnation of the blood in the capillaries, followed by insuffi- 

 cient oxygenation and death. The occurrence of hemorrhage was con- 

 sidered merely incidental to the wearing out of the intracellular sub- 

 stance. Hemorrhagic foci were most common in the kidney, bladder, 

 intestines, liver, adrenals, bone marrow, and spleen in increasing order. 

 Later Findlay (1923) produced a condition of chronic or latent scurvy 

 in guinea pigs by the use of the same basal diet of oats, bran, and auto- 

 claved milk, but supplemented with a very small amount (2 cubic 

 centimeters every third day) of orange juice, and determined the resis- 

 tance of these animals to infection with four species of pathogenic 

 bacteria. In all cases the animals suffering from chronic scurvy suc- 

 cumbed to smaller infecting doses than did the controls on a complete 

 diet. It is of interest that prior to the infection the guinea pigs on the 

 deficient diet showed no definite clinical symptoms beyond failing to 

 grow and appearing less active than usual — a condition not unlike 

 that described by Hess in children suffering from latent scurvy. 



