Scurvy, past and present / by Alfred F. Hess.

  • Alfred Fabian Hess
Date:
[1920]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scurvy, past and present / by Alfred F. Hess. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and Czerny, treat the disorder by giving milk which has been scalded or brought to the boiling-point. Others lay particular stress on changing the source of the milk sup¬ ply, believing that the sameness of the diet leads to the occurrence of scurvy. Such, however, cannot be the case, as otherwise breast-fed babies would be highly subject to this disease. In the report of the American Pediatric Society one case developed on condensed milk and was cured by sterilized milk, and another developed on pas¬ teurized milk and was cured by sterilized milk and broths. These results are explicable; large amounts of milk were given to effect the cure. It may be said in general that in addition to giving fruit or vegetable juices the milk should be either raw or heated to as low a degree as pos¬ sible (duration of heating as well as height of tempera¬ ture). Furthermore, the antiscorbutic treatment should be continued for a period of months, as the clinical im¬ provement far outstrips the restoration of the bones and other tissues. It seems necessary again to call attention to the fact that too great reliance has been placed on the use of beef juice, which has been shown, both in experi¬ ment and in the clinic, to possess comparatively weak antiscorbutic properties. Orange juice may be given intravenously. This method may be resorted to where the patient is in an advanced stage of the disease or where food cannot be tolerated by mouth; for example, in cases such as that mentioned by Cheadle, where death took place owing to the fact that the antiscorbutic could be taken only sparingly, on account of the extreme prostration of the patient. For this purpose the orange juice is obtained in as sterile a manner as possible, boiled for about five minutes and is rendered neutral or slightly alkaline just previous to its injection
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