On the nature, cause, and prevention of scurvy / [Sir Alfred Baring Garrod].

  • Garrod, Alfred Baring, 1819-1907.
Date:
[1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature, cause, and prevention of scurvy / [Sir Alfred Baring Garrod]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ON THE NATURE, CAUSE, AND PREVENTION OF SCURVY. By ALFRED B. GARROD, M.D., ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN TO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL, LONDON. FROM THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, JANUARY 1848. Haying for many years paid considerable attention to the applica¬ tion of chemistry in the investigation of disease, the subject of scurvy has frequently presented itself to my mind; and, as there is but little doubt that the disease arises from some alteration in the animal fluids and solids from error of diet, I have always considered that it was in the power of chemistry to unravel the mystery. During the early part of the present year, many cases came under my care at Uni¬ versity College Hospital: this led me again to pay particular atten¬ tion to the subject, and to examine the peculiarities of the food, and other causes, which could have produced the disease - at that time; for until then I had scarcely seen a case of scurvy in London. It is not my intention to detail the symptoms which presented themselves in my scorbutic patients. I have however noticed, that the solid effusions in the ankles, with petechias and discoloration of the lower extremities, have, in several cases, preceded the spongy condition of the gums; there has also been the sallow skin, great muscular weakness, with rheumatic pains; but these have been so recently and ably described in The Monthly JournalbyT)Y$ Christison, Ritchie, Lonsdale, &c., and in many other recent periodicals, that it is unnecessary to recapitulate them. Causes of Scurvy.—From the different writers on scurvy it appears, that although impure air, cold, moisture, age, and condition of EDINBURGH : SUTHERLAND AND KNOX, 58, PRINCES STREET.