INANITION. 37 



resembling parchment; the exhalation, which in the ordi- 

 nary condition takes place insensibly from the entire surface, 

 is effected in this case in a dry way. The pores of the skin 

 gave out a viscid powder, which, accumulating and becoming 

 concreted, covered the body with a blackish crust, pulveru- 

 lent and horribly fetid." l 



To these phenomena may be added occasional perfora- 

 tion of the cornea, scorbutus in its various forms, gangrena 

 oris, particularly in children, disturbances of the menstrual 

 function, and abortion. The number of births has always 

 been observed to be very small in communities suffering 

 from insufficiency of food. 



Through the kindness of Prof. "W. H. Yan Buren, of the 

 United States Sanitary Commission, we have been enabled 

 to make use of a MS. report to the Richmond authorities 

 (now the property of the Commission) on the condition of 

 United States soldiers, prisoners of war at Andersonville, by 

 Prof. Joseph Jones, of Augusta, Georgia. 2 Dr. Jones is well 

 known to the profession as the author of several physio- 

 logical papers of interest published in the " American Jour- 

 nal of Medical Sciences," and by the Smithsonian Institute. 

 From a perusal of this report, and from the scientific position 

 and ability of its author, we are convinced that it is an ac- 

 curate and careful statement of facts observed by one who 

 had every opportunity and facility for full investigation. 

 Though the investigations were made chiefly with reference 

 to the diseases which prevailed among these unfortunate 

 men, as regards many physiological points, it is the most 



1 DE MEERSMAN, in LONGET, Traite de Physiologic. Paris, 1861, tome i., 

 p. 25. 



9 Investigations upon the Diseases of the Federal Prisoners confined in Camp 

 Sumpter, Andersonville, Ga., instituted with a view to illustrate chief,}/ the Origin 

 and Causes of Hospital Gangrene, the Relations of Continued and Malarial Fe- 

 vers, and the Pathology of Camp Diarrhoea and Dysentery. By JOSEPH JONES, 

 M. D., Professor, of Medical Chemistry in the Medical College of Georgia, at Au- 

 gusta, and formerly Surgeon in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States ; 

 in three volumes, Manuscript. Augusta, Ga., 1865-'66. 



