An Experimental Inquiry into Scurvy. 



253 



fresh meat and had not eaten salted fish, was alive and well, and had 

 buried all his late masters in the snow, he being the only living being 

 in Kharborova in the spring. 



In the experiences collected by one of us — -F. G. J., during his late 

 expedition to Franz Josef Land in 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1897— we 

 have two parties to consider : that of the crew of the " Windward," 

 who spent the winter of 1894 and 1895 there, no individual of which 

 ever failed to take his prescribed ounce of lime juice daily, and yet 

 scurvy broke out, causing at least one death ; and on the other hand 

 the land party on shore who took no lime juice, except two or three of 

 them, who used it as a refreshing drink during the first few months, 

 after which none was used. During the three years that they passed 

 in Franz Josef Land none of them suftered from any symptoms of 

 scurvy. The difference between these parties was principally, if not 

 entirely, due to the meat. The " Windward " party used largely 

 tinned and salted meat ; while, on the other hand, the land party 

 principally lived on bear's meat, and when tinned meat was employed, 

 it passed a severe scrutiny in order that as far as possible it might be 

 not even tainted. 



From these and other facts it would appear that neither lime juice 

 nor fresh vegetables either prevent scurvy or cure it, and it is not the 

 absence of this which is the cause of the disease, but that scurvy is a 

 disease produced through the eating of tainted food. 



The view that scurvy is essentially due to poisoning by the 

 ptomaines of tainted animal food was first propounded by Professor 

 Torup, of Christiania, and it would appear from the foregoing evidence 

 that such is the case, for in all the cases above mentioned where any 

 scurvy occurred the men had lived on tinned meats or salted foods. 



Confirming this view. Dr. George M. Eobertson, of the Perth 

 District Asylum, relates a case of a woman who had become an inmate 

 chiefly owing to her malady having taken the form of eating filth from 

 pigs' troughs. On arrival in the asylum she was found to be suffering 

 from spongy ulcerated gums — in fact, from "land scurvy," and ulti- 

 mately all the teeth, except the canines, fell out. 



In the many instances of scurvy that we have investigated, in no 

 single case have the circumstances rendered inadmissible, or even 

 improbable, the theory that this disease is due to ptomaine poisoning. 

 Before giving to lime juice the credit of having practically swept away 

 scurvy from the naval and marine services, it is necessary to remember 

 that other causes have at the same time been at work to promote 

 health, such as improved sanitation, better quarters for the men, 

 shorter voyages through the enormous increase in the use of steam, 

 and above all &e^/er /(96>r/. 



The evidence so far shown, in which men have unwillingly experi- 

 mented on the effects of ptomaine poisoning, proves that scurvy is 



