ETIOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF SPRUE

Abstract

In 1759 William Hillary 1 described a peculiar chronic type of diarrhea associated with sore tongue, pallor and emaciation which he had observed in Barbados. Then for nearly a century there appear to have been no further distinctive clinical accounts of the disorder. In 1864 Julien 2 enunciated the view that Cochin-China dysentery was a specific condition different from other forms of dysentery. Despite his arguments and the views of other first-hand observers, 3 the French pathologists at home remained unconvinced. In 1880 both Manson, 4 in Amoy, and van der Burg, 5 in Java, described the features of the disease which Hillary had observed. Each of these observers adopted as a scientific name for the disease its popular designation in Java. Since then the individuality of sprue has been established and its features have been described by many authors. Various theories of the cause of the disease have been