On the nature, cause, and prevention of scurvy / by Alfred B. Garrod, M.D.

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

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature, cause, and prevention of scurvy / by Alfred B. Garrod, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    deficiency o£ Potash m tlie food, is also capable of rationally explain- ing many symptoms of that disease. Before attempting to prove any of these propositions, I wiU give a table containing the amount of potash contained in several articles of diet. The potash was determined by forming the double salt witli the bichloride of platinum (KC -}- Pt Clg), \%^^ giving the per cen- tage of potash (KO). Analyses showing the amount of j^otash {KO) in 1 ouiice avoirdujjois of the following substances :— Grains 1 oz. of Baker's Best Bread (City), 0-259 1 oz. of Best Bread (West End), 0-257 1 oz. of Home-made Bread, probably containing potatoe flour, 0-2G2 1 oz. of Best White Flour 0100 1 oz. of Bran, 0 609 1 oz. of Rice, 0 005 1 oz. of Rice, 0-011 1 oz. of Oatmeal 0 054 1 oz. of Split Peas, 0.529 1 oz. of Raw Beef, 0.599 1 oz. of Salt Beef, raw, 0.394 1 oz. of Salt Beef, boiled (slightly salted), 0-572 1 oz. of Boiled Mutton, 0.637 1 oz. of Dutch Cheese, - 0.230 1 02. of Boiled Potato of large size, 1-875 1 oz. of Raw Potato (small), 1.310 1 oz. of Boiled Potato, without peel and well done, water containing much potash, 0.529 1 oz. of Onion (small), 0-.?33 1 fluid oz. of London Milk, 0 309 1 oz. of Orange ( not ripe) including septa, 0.675 ] fluid oz. of Lime Juice, 0852 1 fluid oz. of Lemon Juice, 0.84G (1.) Potash is deficient in scorbutic diets.—This is easily proved by examining some of the dietaries of Union workhouses and prisons, when the inmates have become scorbutic. Thus in the Crechton Union, see Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, Jmie 1847, the usual weekly dietaiy consisted of— Men. Women. Bread, . . . 102 oz. 85 oz. Cooked Meat, . . 12 — 12 — Soup, ... 3 pints, 3 pints. Broth, ... 4^ — H — Cheese, . . . 8 oz. 8 oz. Rice, or Suet Pudding, 14 — 14 — Potatoes, . . . 4J lbs. 4J lbs. If we estimate the amount of potash taken by the inmates of this workliouse, we shall find the men's food to contain about 180 grains, and the women's about 181 miins. This amount woidd be nuich iiilhienced by tlie mode in whidi the potatoes were cooked ; if not too much boiled, mid with the skins on, they woidd contain a much