394 THE HEMORRHAGIC DIATHESES 



also found in the serous membranes and in the internal organs. Murri quite 

 properly avoids drawing conclusions regarding the transmissibility of the dis- 

 ease from these results. Analogous findings were obtained by Contii and 

 Mari in similar experiments. Further investigations resulted in the cultiva- 

 tion of the pathogenic agent of the disease from the blood of scurvy patients. 

 Wieruszskij obtained from scurvy blood in numerous cultures on various 

 media, partly negative results and partly well-known bacteria, so that he con- 

 cluded that scurvy could not be regarded as an infectious disease due to micro- 

 organisms which could be found in the- blood. Babes conducted further ex- 

 periments. He started with the presumption that scurvy is an infectious 

 disease, and that the point of entrance for the pathogenic agent must be 

 sought for in the mucous membrane of the alveolar processes. He therefore 

 extirpated small portions of the gums of scurvy patients, and in the prepara- 

 tions, which had been hardened in alcohol he demonstrated a definite bacillus 

 with which he infected rabbits by intravenous injection. Hemorrhagic foci 

 occurred in various organs in which the bacillus was also found. Babes de- 

 scribes the bacillus as an elongated, bent organism, pointed at the ends, about 

 0.3 fx wide and of about the same length, often forming waving threads twice 

 as long and of various lengths, somewhat thinner and decidedly longer than 

 the cholera bacillus. The youngest specimens are double structures, and show 

 the tendency to form metachromatic bodies which stain dark violet with 

 methylene-blue, and are thicker than the rods. The rods themselves stain 

 only weakly with rubin, and do not stain according to Gram. The bacilli 

 resemble the bacillus e described by Miller, and are probably always present 

 in the oral cavity. The investigations of Babes certainly require further 

 confirmation, for they are assuredly open to doubt. He himself admits that he 

 has not found the pathogenic agent of scurvy, but only speaks of a " bacillus 

 that causes gingivitis and hemorrhages in scurvy." The findings of Eosenell 

 and Borntriiger are quite unreliable; the latter does not even consider the 

 cocci found by him as the pathogenic agent of schrvy. 



Jackson and Harley ^ regard scurvy as a ptomain poisoning. To prove 

 this view experimentally they have attempted to produce scurvy in monkeys 

 by feeding them with tainted meat. Some of the animals had rice and maize 

 given to them with fresh meat; a second group was fed on the same food 

 except that the meat was tainted by prolonged standing; a third group ate 

 the same food as the second with the addition of fresh fruits. Prolonged 

 observation of the animals gave the following results : The first group of ani- 

 mals showed no characteristic symptoms except slow emaciation and diarrhea 

 which appeared after some time. The monkeys of the second group showed 

 decided diminution in strength, and in the majority of them there was a 

 muco-hemorrhagic diarrhea as well as, in some of them, spongy, bleeding, and 

 ulcerative gums. In two of these animals the blood examination revealed a 

 decided decrease of hemoglobin with a slight decrease in the number of erythro- 

 cytes and marked leukocytosis; a decrease of specific gravity dependent par- 

 ticularly upon a diminution of proteids ; increase of fibrin and of coagulabil- 



1 " An Experimental Inquiry into Scurvy." Lancet, April 28, 1900. 



