2l6 PHARMACEUTICAL BACTERIOLOGY. 



be caused by eating mouldy corn {Zea mays) or foods prepared from such 

 corn. Ceni and others declare that the primary cause is a species of As- 

 pergillus {A.flavescens and perhaps also A . fumigatus) . It is also believed 

 that the ordinary household mould {PenicilUum glaucvm) is a primary cause. 

 The mortality rate is very high, and the disease is said to be terrible in its 

 effects. It first manifests itself as an eruption of the skin, usually appearing 

 in the early spring, February or March, after some variable prodromal symp- 

 toms. The skin becomes darkened and blotchy. Eczematous eruptions 

 next appear, with desquamation. Gradually, as the older eruptions heal, 

 while new ones form, the skin becomes rough, from which the name, 'pell' agra 

 — rough skin — ^is derived. The symptoms increase from year to year. 

 The nervous manifestations are varied and are accompanied by great 

 suffering. 



Pellagra is not contagious or infectious, though the tendency is trans- 

 mitted from one generation to another. Children of pellagrins are often 

 born with asymmetrical heads and various other deformities. They may 

 be idiotic or stupid and defective generally. 



Acute pellagra runs a rapid course, but more generally it is chronic, the 

 suffering continuing for years in an ever increasing ratio. The sufferers 

 simply degenerate from year to year and die a slow but terrible death. 



Lombrosa, Ceni and others recognized the fact that pellagrins are mostly 

 of the poorer class, whose principal diet is polenta, a mush made from 

 com meal. This mush is usually prepared in large potfuls, sufficient for a 

 week's eating, and set away, exposed to dust, dirt, flies, etc., so that these 

 ignorant peasants often eat polenta which is more or less mouldy and other- 

 wise spoiled. Efforts were at once made to correct these conditions, but 

 proved only partially successful as far as checkiag the ravages of the disease 

 was concerned. 



L. Syphilis. — This is a filth disease of which the primary cause is the 

 Spirochaia pallida, though several other organisms are generally found 

 present, which have also been designated as being causative of the disease. 

 This is believed to be the most widely disseminated disease of civilization. 

 It is essentially chronic in its course, the effects being apparent even in 

 the third and fourth generations. Primitive races are said to have been 

 free from this disease until the advent of civilization, yet the disease is of 

 great antiquity having been widespread in ancient Rome and Greece. It 

 is very infectious via abrasions, cuts and all breaks in the continuity of the 

 skin and mucous membranes. The infection is carried by all manner of 

 exposed objects, as clothing, dentists' instruments, pipes, dishes, drinking 

 vessels, etc., in fact anything and everything which may have been in 

 contact with a syphilitic. The primary lesions of the patients are very 

 infectious. 



