Description of Scurvy Symptoms by Olaus Magnus (1555)

1 Description of Scurvy Symptoms by Olaus Magnus (1555) Harri Hemilä,a Timo Korkiakangas,b Elizabeth Chalkerc a Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FINLAND [email protected] https://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/hemila https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4710-307X b Academy of Finland; Latin Language and Roman Literature, Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FINLAND ti[email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7841-2978 c National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1593-3770 2024-8-27 This document is located at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13380746 Background for the translation Scurvy has occurred in various contexts throughout history. In Western countries, the harms of scurvy became particularly prevalent when technology enabled long voyages in sailing ships which were slow. It took several weeks to reach their destination, and there was no fresh food available during the voyages, leading to “sea scurvy” [1-4]. To some extent scurvy was also a problem on land. In old times it was referred to as “land scurvy”, though we now know that the disease is the same. Evidently, land scurvy was a problem particularly during wars, eg in association with sieges, when the besieged were unable to get fresh food, and often the besiegers also had poor food. One of the very earliest descriptions of “land scurvy” was by Jean de Joinville in Seventh Crusade (1249). He described symptoms consistent with scurvy during a siege outside Damietta in Egypt when the enemy cut off the supply of fresh foods [5]: … we were attacked with the army sickness, which was such that our legs shrivelled up and became covered with black spots, and spots of the colour of earth, like an old boot; and in such of us as fell sick the gums became putrid with sores and no man recovered of that sickness, but all had to die. It was a sure sign of death when the nose began to bleed: there was nothing left then but to die. About a fortnight afterwards the Turks, in order to starve us out (at which many of our people were astonished), took several of their galleys which were above our camp, dragged them overland to a good league below our camp, and placed them in the river by which supplies came from Damietta. These galleys brought famine upon us, for no one now ventured to come to us from Damietta to bring us provisions by ascending the stream. We knew nothing of all this until a small vessel of the count of Flanders, which fought its way past them, brought us the news, by which time the sultan's galleys had 2 captured eighty of our galleys that were coming from Damietta, and killed all who were on board. The sickness became much more severe throughout the camp, and the proud flesh [gums] in our men’s mouths grew to such excess that the barber-surgeons were obliged to cut it off, to give them a chance of chewing their food or swallowing anything. It was piteous to hear through the camp the shrieks of the people who were being operated upon for proud flesh, for they shrieked like women in childbirth. Another early description of “land scurvy” was by Olaus Magnus, a Swedish writer and Catholic clergyman (1490-1557). He wrote an 800-page book about life in the Nordic countries which was published in 1555 [6]. Two sections describe symptoms which are consistent with scurvy. Olaus Magnus wrote in Latin and parts of his book were first translated into English in 1658 [6]. Olaus Magnus’ book was more recently translated by Peter Foote in 1998 [7]. Neither the old nor the new translations seem to fully capture the original text describing the condition which was likely to be scurvy. Foote translates “tabo” as “pus” and “mollitie putrescente” as “putrefying softness”. Such translations indicate that the condition being described might be boils, which are usually acute and short-term. However, description that the tissue behaves “like wax that is about to melt” indicates that the pathological change is edema, which is common in scurvy [8,9]. Olaus Magnus also states that the condition can be long lasting which is not consistent with boils. He writes that salted food was assumed to be a cause for the condition described by him. This was a common assumption in the early literature about potential causes for scurvy. The description of changes in teeth is also consistent with scurvy. We believed that for researchers interested in the history of scurvy, a more optimal translation can be produced. Links to the original texts are available in the references [6], and the original Latin versions are also included in this document. Swedish translations of the sections on scurvy are available through the web [6]. There is an earlier Finnish translation of Olaus Magnus’ book in a paper version [10], but the sections on scurvy were also translated in this work, see below. Foote wrote about the lack of manuscript versions of Olaus Magnus’ book as follows [7]: No manuscript drafts of any part of the Historia survive. The sole authority for the text is consequently the 1555 edition, whose printing was personally supervised by Olaus Magnus. When the plan for translation emerged, this had recently been made available in two decent facsimile editions, one published in England in 1971, the other in Denmark in 1972 (see the Bibliography). 3 References 1. Kenneth J Carpenter. The History of Scurvy and Vitamin C. 1986. https://www.cambridge.org/fi/academic/subjects/history/history-medicine/history-scurvy-and-vitamin-c https://archive.org/details/historyofscurvyv0000carp 2. David I Harvie. Limeys: The True Story of One Man's War against Ignorance, the Establishment and the Deadly Scurvy. 2002. https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/limeys/9780750939935 3. Stephen R Bown. Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail. 2003. https://archive.org/details/scurvyhowsurgeon00bown_0/mode/2up https://www.stephenrbown.net/scurvy-description.php 4. Jonathan Lamb. Scurvy: The Disease of Discovery. 2016. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691147826/scurvy https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691182933.001.0001 5. Jean de Joinville. Saint Louis, King of France. 1249. https://archive.org/details/SaintLouisKingOfFrance/page/n97/mode/2up https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5403999 (p.59-60) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMCc5294660 (p.207) 6. Olaus Magnus. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus. 1555. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Description_of_the_Northern_Peoples See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaus_Magnus https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaus_Magnus https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=7681 Scurvy: Book 9, Chapter XXXVIIII (38) and Book 16, Chapter LI (51) Latin, Book 9, Chapter XXXVIIII (38) https://runeberg.org/olmagnus/0401.html https://runeberg.org/olmagnus/0402.html https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/Historia/sida/315/faksimil https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/Historia/sida/316/faksimil Latin, Book 16, Chapter LI (51) https://runeberg.org/olmagnus/0656.html https://runeberg.org/olmagnus/0657.html https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/Historia/sida/570/faksimil https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/Historia/sida/571/faksimil English, Old translation (1658), Book 16, Chapter LI (51) https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2018120328001?page=185 Chapter III Swedish, Book 9, Chapter XXXVIIII (38) https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/HistoriaOmDeNordiskaFolken/sida/428/faksimil https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/HistoriaOmDeNordiskaFolken/sida/429/faksimil Swedish, Book 16, Chapter LI (51) https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/HistoriaOmDeNordiskaFolken/sida/768/faksimil https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/OlausMagnus/titlar/HistoriaOmDeNordiskaFolken/sida/769/faksimil 7. Olaus Magnus. A Description of the Northern Peoples, 1555, Volume II. The 1999 version edited by Peter Foote (Hakluyt Society) https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315090382 https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781315090382-51/diversity-sick-persons-illnessesmedicines-peter-fisher-humphrey-higgens-peter-foote-john-granlund 8. Harri Hemilä. The symptoms of vitamin C deficiency. 1. Observations and descriptions by Hess, Lind, Trotter and Blane. Zenodo. 2024 https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10685194 9. Harri Hemilä, Angelique de Man. Vitamin C deficiency can lead to pulmonary hypertension: a systematic review of case reports. BMC Pulm Med. 2024;24(1):140. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12890-024-02941-x https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10949735 10. Olaus Magnus. Suomalaiset Pohjoisten kansojen historiassa. Osat I ja II. 2002. Käännöstyöryhmä: Kimmo Linnilä, Meri Utrio, Kaari Utrio, Kai Linnilä. ISBN 951-31-2637-4 ja ISBN 951-31-2638-2 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohjoisten_kansojen_historia https://data.nationallibrary.fi/bib/me/W00558568000 https://www.finna.fi/Record/ekk.993430674006250 Keripukkia koskevat osuudet: Osa I: s.209; Osa II: s.407. 4 Olaus Magnus. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus. 1555. The translations are limited to the sections that describe scurvy. The translations are as verbatim as possible. The English translation follows that of Foote (1998) where it can be considered verbatim; elsewhere, the translation is of Timo Korkiakangas. 9,38 Latin text from the 1555 Venice edition (punctuation modernized by Timo Korkiakangas): Viribus etenim primis annis, demum (milite stragibus continuis diminuto) artibus, dolis et insidiis obsidentium surripiunt commeatum, praesertim pecudes, quas secum abductas in herbosis domorum tectis pascendas imponunt, ne defectu carnium recentiorum morbum incurrant quibusvis aegritudinibus tristiorem, patria lingua schorbuk appellatum, hoc est saucium stomachum, diris cruciatibus et diuturno dolore tabefactum. Frigidi enim ac indigesti cibi avidius sumpti morbum huiusmodi causare videtur, qualem medici cachexiam universalem appellant. Sed alibi latius: de quo et similibus libro XVI nonnihil erit ostendendum. Verbatim English translation by Timo Korkiakangas: During the first years [of the siege], they1 snatch supplies from the besiegers by force, later (as the manpower diminishes by continuous fights) by cunning, plots and schemes; cattle in particular, which they take away and let grass on the green roofs of houses, so that they 1 may not contract, from lack of fresh meat, the disease more mournful than any other illness, which is called schorbuk 2 in the vernacular, that is, ulcerous 3 stomach, which is dissolved 4 by terrible pains and continuous suffering. Cold and indigested food too greedily devoured seems to cause this kind of disease, which doctors call common cachexy. But more extensively of this elsewhere; something must be told about this and similar things in book 16. Verbatim Finnish translation by Timo Korkiakangas: [Piirityksen] ensimmäisinä vuosina he sieppaavat piirittäjien ruokavaroja väkivalloin, sen jälkeen (miesluvun vähennyttyä jatkuvissa taisteluissa) konnankoukuilla, petoksilla ja juonilla; erityisesti karjaa, jonka he vievät mukanaan ja laittavat laiduntamaan talojen ruohoisille katoille, jotteivat tuoreen lihan puutteessa ajautuisi kaikista sairauksista surullisimpaan, maan kielellä keripukiksi kutsuttuun tautiin, se on ”haavainen vatsa”, jollaiseksi sen riuduttavat 5 kovat tuskat ja jatkuva kipu. Kylmät ja huonosti sulavat ruoka-aineet, joita on nautittu liian ahneesti, näyttävät aiheuttavan moisen sairauden, jota lääkärit kutsuvat yleiseksi kakeksiaksi. Mutta toisaalla laveammin aiheesta; siitä ja vastaavista täytyy kertoa jonkin verran 16. kirjassa. 1 the besieged 2 skörbuk in Swedish 3 saucius ”wounded” although hemorrhages in the stomach are not common, they have been reported in scurvy, e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25058817 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23716105 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9041012 4 stomachum … tabefactum ”the stomach … gets dissolved/melt/wasted/rotten” 5 tabefactum 5 16,51 Latin text from the 1555 Venice edition (punctuation modernized by Timo Korkiakangas): Morbi autem Aquilonarium peculiares hi sunt: tussis, calculus, dentium oculorumque dolor, tormina intestinorum, febris, pituita, scabies et Gallicus morbus ac puerorum morbilli. Pestis etiam quo rarius venit, eo severius interimit homines, in crapula praesertim infatuatos. Est et alius morbus castrensis, qui vexat obsessos et inclusos, talis scilicet, ut membra carnosa stupiditate quadam densata et subcutaneo tabo, quasi cera liquescens, digitorum impressioni cedant. Dentesque veluti casuros obstupefacit, colores cutium candidos ac caeruleos reddit torporemque inducit cum nausea capiendarum medicinarum. Vocaturque vulgari lingua gentis schoerbuch, Graece cachexia, forsitan a subcutanea mollitie putrescente. Quae videtur esu salsorum ciborum nec digestorum nasci et frigida murorum exhalatione foveri. Sed vim tantam non habebit, ubi muri interius tabulis quorumcunque lignorum sunt cooperti. Insuper si diutius grassatur iste morbus, absynthiaco potu continuato illum arcere, sicuti et calculi radices per decoctionem veteris cervisiae cum butyro epotae tollere, solent. Verbatim English translation by Timo Korkiakangas: The diseases peculiar to Northerners are these: cough, stones 6 , pain in the teeth and eyes, griping of the bowels, fever, sniffle 7 , itch 8 , and the French disease 9 , as well as children’s ailments. The pest also, the less often it comes, the more severely it kills people, particularly those blunted by drunkenness. There is also another disease, peculiar to fortresses 10 , which disturbs both the besiegers and those under siege – namely a disease such that the fleshy parts of body, which a kind of numbness 11 and corruption under the skin 12 have caused to stiffen, yield to the pressure of the fingers, like wax that is about to melt. The disease also makes the teeth feel as if they will fall out 13 and turns the skin whitish and bluish. It also brings about a torpor accompanied by a disgust at taking medicines 14 . The disease is called schoerbuch2 in the language of the people, cachexia 15 in Greek, perhaps from the putrefying softness under the skin 16 . It seems to be caused by eating salty and indigestible food and to be fostered by the cold exhalation of the walls 17 . It will not have such force where the walls are covered on the inside with wooden boards of any kind. Moreover, if the disease rages for a longer time, they are used to restrain it by drinking wormwood 18 constantly in the same way as they are used to eradicate the roots of stones 19 by drinking the decoction of old beer and butter. 6 calculus “a stone in the urinary tract” 7 pituita 8 scabies; indicates “itch” but probably in the context refers to the “scabies” disease 9 syphilis 10 castrensis “belonging to military camp”; in the 16th century warfare was largely about besieging fortresses 11 stupiditas 12 subcutaneum tabum ”subcutaneous corruption”; tabum (or tabes) refers to all kinds of physical wasting and consumption from atrophy to putrefaction and pus. Based on the “like wax that is about to melt” it seems that in this context tabum may refer to “edema” 13 obstupefacit; Foote 1998: ”deadens the sensitivity of the teeth, which feel as if they will fall out” 14 nausea capiendarum medicinarum ”nausea concerning the taking of medicines” 15 cachexy 16 subcutanea mollitie putrescente; in the context, also based on the “like wax that is about to melt” above, this probably refers to “edema” rather than putrefaction 17 the walls of a fortress 18 absinthiaco potu “the drinking of absinth potion” 19 calculi radices … tollere ”to remove the roots of the stones”; apparently referring to urinary calculi 6 Verbatim Finnish translation by Timo Korkiakangas: Pohjoisten seutujen asukkaille ominaisia sairauksia ovat nämä: yskä, kivitauti, hampaiden ja silmien kipu, vatsakipuja, kuume, nuha, syyhy ja ranskantauti 20 sekä lasten pikkusairaudet. Vaikka rutto tuleekin melko harvoin, se tappaa ihmisiä sitäkin ankarammin, erityisesti juomisen tylsistyttämiä. On myös eräs toinen, sotilasleireille ominainen, sairaus, joka vaivaa piirittäjiä ja piiritettyjä, sellainen nimittäin, että eräänlaisen jäykistymisen sekä ihonalaisen nestekertymän turvottamat lihaisat ruumiinosat antavat periksi sormien painallukselle kuin lähellä sulamista oleva vaha. Se myös tekee hampaat turraksi ikään kuin ne olisivat putoamaisillaan sekä ihon värin valkoiseksi ja siniseksi sekä tuo mukanaan turtumuksen, johon liittyy vastenmielisyys lääkkeiden ottamista kohtaan. Kansan kielellä sitä kutsutaan keripukiksi2, kreikaksi kakeksiaksi, kenties ihonalaisen pehmeän turvotuksen mukaan. Se näyttää syntyvän suolaisten ja huonosti sulavien ruoka-aineiden syömisestä sekä kehittyvän kylmää hohkaavien muurien vaikutuksesta. Sillä ei ole niin suurta voimaa siellä, missä muurit on sisäpuolelta peitetty mistä tahansa puusta tehdyillä levyillä. Sitä paitsi, jos tämä tauti riivaa pidempään, heidän on tapana torjua sitä juomalla jatkuvasti koiruohojuomaa, niin kuin heillä on myös tapana kiskoa pois virtsatiekivien juuria juomalla vanhan oluen ja voin sekoitusta. 20 kuppa