Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/226

208 DIETETICS hygiene that no cases of even mild scurvy were detected ; the pallor and languor and depression of spirits of some among the sailors were attributed to the want of sunlight for 142 days, and it was expected that a few days sledge travelling in the open air would reinvigorate them. There was plenty of lime-juice aboard : but it seems that it is not the custom to add to the weight of provisions, which Polar sledging parties have to propel, by including the preserva tive amongst them. Sir George Nares, the commander of the expedition, cites the namss of 10 admirals, 10 doctors, and 15 captains who have conducted land explorations in this fashion without it; and they returned unscathed to any serious extent. But on this recent occasion the crews seem to have been peculiarly predisposed to illnesses of scorbutic nature by the more than ordinary scarcity of fresh meat iu their dietary, arising out of the deficiency of game in the extremely high latitude where they wintered. With few exceptions the whole of the crews of the " Alert " and the " Discovery " were employed in sledging, and the consequence was, that of the 122 officers and men, 59 were more or less incapacitated by scurvy, and 4 died. The real reason for not carrying lime-juice in such expeditions is its cumbersomeness. Including bottles, though in truth they are not wanted in a hard frost, it may be said that lib a week for each man would have to be added to the baggage, 1 a serious item, no doubt. And with a view of remedying the inconvenience, medical men have long sought to discover to what constituent of the complicated mixture afforded by nature it is that it owes its efficacy. In a contribution to the Medico-Chirurgical Review for 1848, Dr Parkes examined exhaustively the evi dence concerning the various deficiencies in ship food as compared with fresh food which might be filled up by one or other of the components of lime-juice; and by exclusion he is led to the conclusion that the cause of scurvy is to be found in deficiency of salts whose acids form carbonates in the system, viz., citric, tartaric, acetic, lactic, and malic acids. Though not so good as when in their natural form, because less digestible and pleasant, yet a supply of citrates, tartrates, lactates, and malates of potash might be packed in small bulk, and, under circumstances where weight is of importance, might take the place of lime-juice. Or bolo- lozenges might.be made of lime-juice freed from its aqueous portion and pressrved with sugar. Three or four of these a day might be easily swallowed without stopping work. Before leaving the subject of maritime scurvy, it may be suggested how useful it would be if those who sail in desolate regions were to carry seeds of antiscorbutic vege tables, which, strewn broadcast in uninhabited places, would form a flora capable of saving the lives of many a wrecked or weather-bound crew. Scurvy, as landsmen see it in time of peace, amounts to little more than anaemia with a softening and bleeding condition of the gums. But it indicates the use of exactly the same preventives and remedies as the more severe complaint. Starvation is a disease which it is a platitude to say may be prevented by diet ; nevertheless there are connected with it a few peculiarities of scientific and practical interest which may not be unworthy of notice. " Inedia," as it is called in the nomenclature of diseases by the London College of Physicians, is of two kinds, arising from want of food and from want of water. When entirely deprived of nutriment the human body is capable of supporting life under ordinary circumstances for little more than a week. In the spring of 1869 this was 1 In merchant ships lime-juice is used during Polar service iu a ration of an ounce daily. See "Report" above cited. But the opinions of the officers examined seems to agree that the quantity is not sufficient, and advise half as much again or more. tried on the person of a " fasting girl " in South Wales. The parents made a show of their child, decking her out like a bride on a bed, and asserting that she had eaten no food for two years. Some reckless enthusiasts for truth set four trustworthy hospital nurses to watch her ; the Celtic obstinacy of the parents was roused, and in defence of their imposture they allowed death to take place in eight days. Their trial and conviction for manslaughter may be found in the daily periodicals of the date; but, strange to say, the experimental physiologists and nurses escaped scot- free. There is no doubt that in this instance the unnatural quietude, the grave-like silence, and the dim religious light in which the victim was kept contributed to defer death. One thing which remarkably prolongs life is a supply of water. Dogs furnished with as much as they wished to drink were found by M. Chossat (Sur VInanition, Paris, 1813) to live three times as long as those who were deprived of solids and liquids at the same time. Even wetting the skin with sea-water has been found useful by shipwrecked sailors. Four men and a boy of fourteen who got shut in the Tynewydd mine near Porth, in South Wales, in the winter of 1S76-7 for ten days without food, were not only alive when released, but several of them were able to walk, and all subsequently recovered. The thorough saturation of the narrow space with aqueous vapour, and the presence of drain water in the cutting, were probably their chief preservatives, assisted by the high even temperature always found in the deeper headings of coal mines, and by the "enormous compression of the confined air. This doubtless prevented evaporation, and retarded vital processes dependent upon oxidation. The accumula tion of carbonic acid in the breathed air would also have a similar arrestive power over destructive assimilation. These prisoners do not seem to have felt any of the severer pangs of hunger, for they were not tempted to eat their candles. With the instinctive feeling that darkness adds a horror to death, they preferred to use them for light. It is a paradoxical fact, that the supply of the stomach even from the substance of the starving individual s body should tend to prolong life. In April 1874, a case was recorded of exposure in an open boat for 32 days of three men and two boys, with only ten days provisions, exclusive of old boots and jelly-fish. They had a fight in their delirium, and one was severely wounded. As the blood gushed out ha lapped it up ; and instead of suffering the fatal weakness which might have been expected from the hemorrhage, he seems to have done well. Experiments have been performed by a French physiologist, M. Anselmier (Archives Gen. deMedecine, 1860, vol. i. p. 169), with the object of trying to preserve the lives of dogs by what he calls " artificial autophagy." He fed them on the blood taken from their own veins daily, depriving them of all other food, and he found that the fatal cooling incident to starvation was thus postponed, and existence prolonged. Life lasted till the emaciation had proceeded to six-tenths of the animal s weight, as in Chossat s experiments, extend ing to the fourteenth day, instead of ending on the tenth day, as was the case with other dogs which were not bled. These instances of the application of the art of dietetics to the treatment of disease are sufficient to show the principles which should be kept in sight. The pathology of the ailment should be considered first, then its bearing upon the digestive organs, and lastly the bearing of the digestive organs upon it. And before quitting the subject of health as affected by diet, the common-sense hint may be given to those who are in good sanitary condition, that they cannot do better than let well alone. The most trustworthy security for future health is present health, and there is some risk of

overthrowing nature s work by ovcrcaring.