Scurvy was formerly common among sailors, prisoners, inmates of poor houses and, under certain conditions, soldiers, on account of bad hygiene and deprivation of fresh fruits and vegetables. Whether this deprivation is the sole element or whether it is the basis of an infection, has not been definitely determined, nor has the exact operation of the deprivation, although the theory of Garrod and Ralfe that the disease is a dyscrasia due to lack of potassium and of carbonates derived from vegetable acids, is quite generally held.

Scurvy occasionally develops in individuals having no appetite for fruits and vegetables, especially chronic drunkards.

Whether the use of salt and smoked meats and fish is of eti-ologic moment or merely a circumstance of the deprivation of fresh foods, is doubtful.

Owing to the development of hermetic sealing, it is only through gross negligence or accident that scurvy now exists. Almost any kind of fresh or canned vegetable food, fruit juice etc., suffices to prevent or relieve scurvy.

In the treatment, it should be borne in mind that the patient is probably insufficiently nourished in various respects and may be on the verge of starvation so that the diet should be increased very carefully, as discussed under the latter head.

Infantile scurvy may develop in infants artificially reared on any kind of prepared food or on sterilized but not raw milk. It rarely appears before the fourth month, usually from the ninth to the eighteenth. It can be prevented by the use of a teaspoon-full of fruit juice daily. Its treatment usually includes careful attention to the diet of a badly nourished infant, aside from the scorbutic condition.

Purpura rhcumatica and other forms of purpura depending on particular dyscrasias, require appropriate treatment.

Purpura haemorrhagica sometimes presents no sharp demarcation from haemophilia. The treatment includes the free use of gelatin, calcium salts and bland, abundant nourishment.

Certain cases of purpura - sometimes called purpura rheu-matica - occur in tuberculosis and may even be the initial symptom. In such cases, aside from the immediate treatment, the diet appropriate for tuberculosis should be instituted.