"Study: Scurvy Hit Early N. American French Colony"
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=6944526&src=rss/scienceNews
Study: Scurvy Hit Early N. American French Colony
Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:40 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scurvy wiped out nearly half of the colonists who
established one of the first French settlements in North America 400
years ago, scientists confirmed on Monday.
The colony existed in 1604 and 1605 on St. Croix Island off
present-day Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Nearly half
of the 79 settlers died during the harsh winter, prompting survivors
to move to what is now Nova Scotia in the summer of 1605.
It was one of the earliest European outposts on the North Atlantic
coast of North America, preceding Jamestown by three years and
Plymouth by 16 years.
Researchers at Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, Maine, said
they used a process called multi-detector computed tomography to
examine the bones of colonists disinterred in 1969. They were scanned
before being reburied on the island in 2003.
"We were able to visualize the entire skull from every angle, inside
and out. Scans of the skull and leg bones revealed a thick hard palate
in the mouth and an extra layer of bony tissue on the femur and tibia,
which we believe resulted from the internal bleeding associated with
scurvy," said John Benson, director of medical imaging at the
hospital.
His report was released in Chicago in conjunction with the annual
meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Scurvy, a fatal disease characterized by weakness, anemia, gum disease
and internal bleeding, is caused a lack of vitamin C, which is found
in citrus fruits, tomatoes and some vegetables.
Based on cut marks found in one of the skulls, researchers also said
they think colonists on Saint Croix Island conducted autopsies to try
to find out what was killing their fellow settlers.
Samuel de Champlain, who was part of the St. Croix expedition headed
by nobleman-courtier Pierre Dugua Sieur de Mons, described in gruesome
detail the symptoms of the disease, which he called land-sickness or
scurvy.
"There developed in the mouths of those who had it, large pieces of
excess fungus flesh which caused a great rot," he wrote in his travel
journal. "Their teeth barely held in place, and could be removed with
the fingers without causing pain.
"This excess flesh was often cut away, which caused them to bleed
extensively from the mouth. Afterwards, severe pain developed in the
arms and legs, which became swollen and very hard and covered with
spots like fleabites."
The 6.5-acre island in the St. Croix River, which divides the United
States and Canada, is now an international historic site.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright Reuters 2004
|