Scurvy

(sker'-ve). A disease observed both on land and at sea among persons who have been deprived of wholesome diet for any length of time; it is characterized by spongy gums, extravasations of blood, livid, indurated patches of skin, hemorrhages from the mucosa, fetor of the breath, and painful contractions of the muscles. It is aggravated by want of cleanline and by a diet of fat, salt meat. It soon disappears under a vegetable diet, vegetable acids, etc. S. of the Alps. See Pellagra . S., Button, a disease which prevailed among the peasantry of Ireland, in 1814. It was described as an eruption of "convex tubercles, varying from the size of a split pea to that Scutate (sku'-tat). In biology, shaped like a buckler.