SCURVY. A corruption of the earlier word "scorby," scurvy is the name given to the disease that is the consequence of a prolonged deprivation of vitamin C. The minimum daily requirement to prevent the disease is approximately 7 mg, but it takes several weeks of depletion of body reserves before the problem becomes evident. There are many descriptions of the disease as it appeared among sailors engaged in the long voyages that began to be undertaken from the end of the fifteenth century. After ten or more weeks at sea, men began to experience general pain and stiffness, while their lower body became covered with large purple spots. In addition their gums would swell and grow over their teeth, which became loose; and old wounds would reopen. Finally, sufferers would die suddenly, "in the middle of a sentence," to the astonishment of their mates. This is now explained as the consequence of impaired protein synthesis, with connective...