SCURVY AND CONSTIPATION

In view of the departures from the customary character of the diet that are impending or already in operation to a large extent among the civil population, as well as among the armies of the world, it is fortunate that scurvy has again become the subject of extensive scientific investigation. This disease is admittedly associated with alterations in the diet, and commonly has manifested itself prominently when certain extensive changes in the usual rations have been necessitated by force of altered food conditions. We have recently referred to some of the conflicting views regarding scurvy, particularly as they are elucidated by modern experience with antiscorbutic methods.² The symposium on diseases due to deficiencies in nutrition—an important feature of the session of the American Medical Association last June—helped to secure the formulation of the debated points of view.³

We must revert here to the theory of McCollum, which has