558 Veterinary Medicine. 



Definition. Scurvy is a subacute or chronic trophic disorder 

 characterized b_v deblHty, inanition, anaemia, swelHng and 

 bleeding of the gums, gingival ulceration, dropping of the teeth, 

 and petechial or more extensive haemorrhages and exudations in 

 the skin, serosa, and solid tissues. 



Animals susceptible. In past times inan has suffered extensive- 

 1}^ in connection with unwholesome food and environment, on 

 long sea voyages, on uninhabited islands, in military campaigns, 

 in besieged cities, in famines, when restricted to one article of 

 of food, etc. Among the lower animals, pigs especially suffer, 

 when kept in close, foul quarters and fed a monotonous and in- 

 sufhcient ration. Dogs suffer under similar conditions, and 

 probably other animals would if equally badly used. 



Causes. Formerly it was attributed to an exclusive diet of salt 

 meat and bread ; to excess of sodium, and deficiency of potassium 

 salts ; to the absence of fresh vegetables ; to tainted food, etc. A 

 broader generalization shows the Eskimo living on a pure meat 

 diet, the Mongolian on rice alone, the Congoese on plantains, and 

 without scurvy. Yet it cannot be denied that these various con- 

 ditions undermine the general health, and prepare the system for 

 those faulty states of nutrition which are seen in scurvy. In pigs 

 the food and environment are usually chiefly at fault, the subjects 

 have been kept closely confined in foul buildings, in a hot, moist 

 atmo.s]-)here, and with an uniforna diet of maize or other unvary- 

 ing and insufficient ration. It does not appear when there is a 

 free access to a spacious 3'ard or open field, and when the monoto- 

 nous diet can be varied by a variety of slugs and other inver- 

 tebrates. Roll attaches great importance to a putrid con- 

 dition of the aliments (putrescent swill). Benion has found it 

 mainly in obese swine, the forced feeding and intestinal fermenta- 

 tions manifestly operating as factors. Corrupt drinking water 

 has proved a manifest factor among men living in camps, and 

 pigs above all other animals are subjected to this cause. Benion 

 .says it occurs in the advanced stages of measles (cysticercus 

 cellulosa). 



It is evident that unwhole.some conditions of life such as the, 

 above, contribute strongly to the affection, yet probably no one of 

 the.se is by itself an effective factor. Its rapid extension among 

 men and animals, that are huddled together in close, filthy 



