HISTORY 



1703 



not till Fanzago in 1789 published his work, ' Memoria sopra la 

 Pellagra del Territorio Padovano,' that these two diseases were 

 recognized to be one and the same. After this date the literature 

 concerning pellagra increased'considerably, but no work of great 

 importance appeared until 1810, when Marzari published his book, 

 ' Saggio Medico-Politico sulla Pellagra e Scorbuto/ in which he 

 laid stress upon ' maize ' as the principal etiological factor in the 

 disease — a view which had previously been mentioned, but not 

 so forcibly, by Casal and others. The importance of this work is 

 that, ever since its pubhcation, the maize theory in some form has 

 been generally adopted in Italy. Marzari was of the opinion that 

 it was the deficiency of the gluten in the maize which was the main 

 agent of the disease, but he also suspected toxicity. From Marzari 's 

 time there are very numerous publications, among which may be 

 mentioned those by Henry Holland in 1817 on the pellagra of 

 Lombardy, published in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, and 

 by Zecchinelli in 1818. 



Balardini in 1845, in his work entitled ' Delia Pellagra, del Grano 

 turco quale Causa Precipua di quella Malattia e dei Mezzi per 

 Arrestarla,' promulgated the view that the causation was a fungus 

 growing in the maize, which fungoid growth was called 'Verderame,' 

 and was thought to be due to Sporisorium maidis. This publication 

 was of the greatest importance, as it afforded an explanation as to 

 why the disease should attack some people and not others, and thus 

 gave the maize theory greater importance. This subject was 

 further studied by Costallat and others, who produced symptoms 

 in chickens by feeding them on maize containing verderame, which 

 were said to resemble those of pellagra. 



In 1872 Lombroso began to study pellagra, and continued lo do 

 so till he died in 1909. He believed that the disease was an intoxi- 

 cation produced by the toxins manufactured by organisms, harm- 

 less in themselves, and growing on maize. More recently a view 

 has been promulgated that the disease is due to good maize, which 

 in certain people produces the sympti.ms of the disease, and in 

 others does not. Such, briefly, was the condition when Sambon in 

 1905 began his work, which he has continued up to the present 

 time. This work, which is mainly epidemiological, has thoroughly 

 shaken, if not completely destroyed, the maize theory, and has 

 brought forward many facts which support strong]}^ a parasitic 

 theory of the causation of the disease as well as a probability of the 

 infection being spread by one of the biting flies. 



Spain. — -The discovery of the disease by Casal in 1735 in the 

 Oviedo district of the Asturias has already been mentioned, as well 

 as the fact that Feijoo had recognized it in Galicia. The next 

 publication is by an Englishman, called Townsend, entitled ' A 

 Journey through Spain,' and published in three volumes in London 

 in 1791. In the second volume, on p. 10, there is a short clear 

 account of ' Mai de Rosa.' This is the earhest known account of 

 pellagra in English. In 1820 Eximeno made an inquiry into the 



