RECENT ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE OF SCURVY AND THE ANTISCORBUTIC VITAMIN

Abstract

During the past decade the advance in our knowledge of the antiscorbutic vitamin and of experimental and clinical scurvy has not been great; it has been far less, for example, than that of vitamin D or of the vitamin B complex, which is composed of the other water soluble vitamins. In the course of this period, we have gained, however, a much clearer understanding of the antiscorbutic foods, particularly in their relation to various processes and manipulations to which they are subjected in the course of merchandising. <h3>PATHOLOGY OF SCURVY</h3> In the field of pathology, great stress has been laid on the changes in the teeth. As early as 1919, it was shown by Zilva and Wells¹that radical alterations in tooth structure could be brought about in guinea-pigs and in monkeys by a deficiency of the antiscorbutic vitamin. The lesions were in the nature of a fibrosis or