stefansson-wrangel-09-40-004-005

Scurvy 5.

so loose that they could be plucked out with
fingers with no effort and the gums were of
such a cheese-like consistency that they were
cut (with little bleeding) by wooden toothpicks
about as easily as ordinary "American" cheese ould
be . Every joint was sore and all movements
painful and there was a gloom which, both men
later agreed, could not have been caused by
mere worry over their danger - we were seven hundred
miles from our vessels and six hundred from the
nearest Eskimos. There was a marked craving
for salt, in consequence of which I threw away
a pound of salt we had with us and a little
remaining Bovril. Appetite and digestion seemed
normal, the except there was the above-mentioned
craving for salt and a pronounced distaste
for raw meat - greater distaste than ordinary.
I now put them on this diet: In the morning
a potful of meat was boiled without salt in
enough water to supply drinking needs all day.
The boiled meat was all consumed at breakfast,
and when hungry enough (which was soon) raw,
frozen meat was eaten as often as desired the
rest of the day. This meant that from half
to two thirds of the meat was eaten raw. Marrow
was also eaten raw.

In three days of this diet both men felt
as cheerful as normal and instead of the
previous disinclination to stir there was a
desire for activity surprising in view of
the weakness from which they had not yet recovered.
The pain in the joints was nearly gone, the craving
for salt was markedly less and the appetite for
raw meat much improved. In fourteen days from
the first meal of meat both men were able to
walk and we started south. In another two
weeks their teeth were secure and the gums
hard, though the did not, of course regain
their former position or contours.

All these men had been travelling all
winter, having exercise that amounted to hard
work and fresh air night and day. None of
them took a bath shortly before, during or
immediately after their recoveryxxxxx illness.

I have found among medical practitioners
in Alaska that with the predjudice in favor of
fruit and vegetables as anti-scorbutics inherited
from Captain Cook's interesting observations,
they have neglected meat as a preventative and
curative agent in general throughout the
territory. This lead to many uncalled-for
deaths while vegetables were as yet readily
obtainable - fresh meat and fish not always have
been readily obtainable in most places.

Apart from some cases of scurvy dealt with
in an article published in the MEDICAL REVIEW
OF REVIEWS for May, 1918, I have seen in addition
to the above one case only - my own. I knew
in advance I was likely to get scurvy the winter