A disease typified by a breakdown of collagen fibers in the body. This results in persistent internal hemorrhaging as capillaries break down. Those suffering from scurvy are weak, bruise easily, and start to lose their hair. Teeth loosen as the gum tissue and the dentin on the teeth break down. Eating becomes difficult and painful as a result.

An account of scurvy

A graphic account is provided by William Hutchinson, who wrote in 1794 of a voyage he took in 1738: "I thus struggled with the disease 'till it increased so that my armpits and hams grew black but did not swell, and I pined away to a weak, helpless condition, with my teeth all loose, and my upper and lower gums swelled and clotted together like a jelly, and they bled to that degree, that I was obliged to lie with my mouth hanging over the side of my hammock, to let the blood run out, and to keep it from clotting so as to cloak me; till after a seven months passage we arrived in Pullicat Road; from whence we got fresh provisions, and sent for men to carry the ship to Madras, where, what remained of the sick were got on shore to sick quarters; and where, with fresh provisions and fomentations of herbs I got well, and returned on board in eighteen days; where I found a stout gang of the country seamen, called Laskers, to work the ship in her voyage to China and home."

The cause of scurvy

Scurvy is a vitamin deficiency disease, caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet. Although we know this now, and scurvy is consequently rare, it wasn't always so. There were many theories about why sailors got scurvy. One of the key investigators in determining the cause and cure for scurvy was James Lind, ship's surgeon of the HMS Salisbury as it sailed from England to Plymouth Colony in 1747. Lind had aboard 12 sailors ill with scurvy.

He divided these 12 men into six groups of two each. The first group got a quart of apple juice daily; the second 25 drops of an elixir made from sulfuric acid; the third two spoonfuls of vinegar three times a day; the fourth a concoction of herbs and spiced; the fifth a half-pint of seawater daily; the sixth two oranges and a lemon daily. The sailors getting citrus recovered, while the others did not. Lind deduced that something in the citrus prevented and cured scurvy. We now now that something is vitamin C.

Largely as a result of Lind's and similar studies, the British Royal Navy begin providing daily rations of lemon or lime juice to all its men in 1795. Although this did result in the sailors being referred to in derogatory terms as "limeys", it also prevented the scurvy in the Royal Navy.

Vitamin C was finally isolated in 1932 by scientists working at the University of Pittsburgh. These days, it can be synthesized and used as a supplement even when there are no natural sources available, so scurvy is practically unknown.