There was a big reason why the word antiscorbutic died out over time. The source of scurvy was finally discovered in 1927 and then confirmed in 1932, and once people realized that scurvy was a deficiency of vitamin C rather than an infection of some kind, the need to find an antiscorbutic died out. Eat your vegetables! During the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, Scott believed that the cause of scurvy was tainted meat, especially tinned meat.
Scott, while not a doctor or scientist, was scientifically oriented and reasonably up to date in the main medical ideas of the time. On his journeys South he would often make things worse for himself and his team by sterilizing the meat (boiling for a long time) which would result in the destruction of most of the vitamin C. But that's not all. Scurvy, in Edwardian Britain, was something of a hush-hush illness. Britain had been the first to solve the crisis of scurvy on long voyages, if they didn't know the cause they had at least found some potential cures. So there was a stigma attached to anyone who got it: you could have avoided this. When Scott and others experienced it on their journeys South, it was a big blow. The voyages had been meticulously planned.
Scott may have thought to himself, "How could we have gotten scurvy?"
And the answer I would give him would be: "it's a miracle you didn't get scurvy sooner."
Pride was a big factor in many of Scott's decisions. His flaws lay within his emotional processing of the world around him, and they were also part of his big strengths as a leader. But that's something I hope the player will witness as they play Antarctic Simulator 1914: Heroes of the Antarctic.
Scott, while not a doctor or scientist, was scientifically oriented and reasonably up to date in the main medical ideas of the time. On his journeys South he would often make things worse for himself and his team by sterilizing the meat (boiling for a long time) which would result in the destruction of most of the vitamin C. But that's not all. Scurvy, in Edwardian Britain, was something of a hush-hush illness. Britain had been the first to solve the crisis of scurvy on long voyages, if they didn't know the cause they had at least found some potential cures. So there was a stigma attached to anyone who got it: you could have avoided this. When Scott and others experienced it on their journeys South, it was a big blow. The voyages had been meticulously planned.
Scott may have thought to himself, "How could we have gotten scurvy?"
And the answer I would give him would be: "it's a miracle you didn't get scurvy sooner."
Pride was a big factor in many of Scott's decisions. His flaws lay within his emotional processing of the world around him, and they were also part of his big strengths as a leader. But that's something I hope the player will witness as they play Antarctic Simulator 1914: Heroes of the Antarctic.
The use of the word "antiscorbutic" since 1900. Source: Google books Ngram Viewer
RSS Feed