stefansson-wrangel-09-40-004-004

Scurvy 4

prefer very high meat rawand frosen to the same
meat cooked and so our party ate most of their
food raw for some days. Andersen told me
the following summer that after three days
of the raw meat he was completely over his abnormal
gloom, felt eager to exert himself as exemplified
by a willingness to get up in the mornings
(where he had formerly had to "drag himself out
of bed"), he could stand up suddenly without
dizziness and a soreness end stiffness of the
joints, lately a prominent symptom, had
disappeared. All this in three days. On
a continued diet of meat, sometimes raw, sometimes
cooked, but always fresh after the first four
or five days, he continued to improve. His
full strength was back in two weeks and his
guns were firm and his teeth fast in a month.
No salt was used, for they had run out of it.

In complete ignorance of the progress
of Andersen’s disease and of his recovery, my
own party proceeded out on the moving sea
ice and to a point 140 miles from land. Here
scurvy, this time promptly recognised, laid hold
of two of my three companions, Knight and Noice.
That helped me to a prompt decision as to what
the trouble was, was Noice's telling me that
at times when they had been working separated
from me they had eaten practically no fresh
meat for a considerable part of the winter
and had been eating everything heavily salted,
partly (apparently) as a protest against what
they considered my unreasonable instructions
that meat should be the main item of diet and
salt used sparingly, though both ‘"white men’s
food” and salt had been found at Winter Harbor.

Noice, who had been on the Winter
Harbor diet, and Knight, who had been on the
ship's diet, had about the same symptoms and
these were the same as in Andersen's case.
Noice’s disease, however, was about a week
farther advanced than Knights. We at once
started for land, for seals were scarce where
we were and fresh meat not available. I ceased
using any salt or salty food, and for the first
week of the journey shoreward the symptoms
remained about at a standstill . After that,
however, the disease made progress again.
The diet at this time was hard bread, rice,
pea meal, honey, sugar, casein. What fat we
had we used for the dogs.

Before reaching shore Noice had become
unable to walk and had to be hauled on the
sleds; Knight was able to walk but was getting
weaker and more wretched. On landing on
Ellef Ringnes Island I at once went in search
of caribou inland, the others travelling
along the const to keep abreast of me. On the
second day 14 caribo- were killed and we pitched
camp at the kil1.

At this time the teeth of both were