IX. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY IN HUMAN BEINGS 349 



Cartier's men had scurvy in NeAvfoundland in 1536 to the extent of 100 

 casualites out of 110 men. A historian in his group wrote: "An unknown 

 sickness began to spread itself among us after the strangest sort that ever 

 was heard or seen. Some did lose all their strength and could not stand on 

 their feet. Then did their legs swell, their sinnows shrinke as l)lack as any 

 cole. Others also had all their skins spotted with spots of blood of a purple 

 color. Then did it ascent up to their ankles, thighes, shoulders, arms and 

 necks; their mouths became stinking; their gums so rotten that all the 

 flesh did fall oif even to the roots of the teeth which did almost all fall out. 

 With such infection did this sickness spread itself in our three ships that 

 about the middle of February of 110 persons that we were, there were not 

 10 whole." 



"That day PhilUp Rougemont died being 22 years old and because the 

 sickness was to us unknown, our captain caused him to be ripped to see if 

 by any means possible we might know what it was, and so seek means to 

 save and preserve the rest of the company. He was found to have his heart 

 white, but rotten, and more than a quart of red water about it. His liver was 

 indifferent fair, but his lungs black and mortified. That done as well as we 

 could, he was buried." The Indians showed them how to make a decoction 

 of swamp spruce, and from tliis mixture the rest were saved.' 



In the sixteenth century, scurvy was described by Claus Magnus, 

 Echtius, and Wierus. Ponsseus referred to the therapeutic use of scurvy 

 grass, watercress, and oranges.'* By 1600, Ume juice was used experimentally 

 in the British Navy, especially on ships of the East India Company. In 

 1734, Bachstrom gave the first clear account of the relationship of a de- 

 ficiency in fresh fruits and vegetables to scurvy .^ In 1753, James Lind, a 

 ship surgeon, pubhshed his epochal treatise on scurvy and his controlled 

 experiments demonstrated the spectacular curative effect of oranges and 

 lemons.'* By 1795, lemon juice was a regular ration in the British Navy, 

 ounces 1 daily after 10 days at sea. In 1854, a similar regulation was put 

 into effect in the British Merchant Marine. In spite of the toll taken by 

 scurvy in the war between the States, there was no provision in the United 

 States Army for antiscorbutic rations until 1895. Scurvy continued to 

 take its toll through World War I. 



Infantile scurvy was described by GHsson in 1650,^ but he confused the 

 clinical picture with rickets. This misinterpretation continued until Sir 

 Thomas Barlow, in 1883, differentiated infantile scurvy from rickets and 



' H. P. Biggar, The Voyages of Jacques Cartier. Publications of Public Archives of 

 Canada, No. 11, p. 204, 1924. 



* J. Lind, Treatise on Scurvy, 2nd ed., A. Millar, London, 1757. 



* F. GHsson, De Rachitide sive Morbo Puerti qui vulgo, "The Rickets," dicitur. 

 London, 1650. Quoted by F. F. Tisdall and N. Jolliffe, Vitamin C. Malnutrition 

 and Scurvy in Clinical Nutrition, pp. 586-601. Paul B. Hoeber, New York, 1950. 



