The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-07

case with stock then like conditions
Would or course, affect persons. In
his article, he says:
The symptoms of this trouble vary
SO greatly that it is exceedingly difficult
to recognize it. In the first stages
the person lacks energy and there is
mental depression with pains in the
head and spinal column. During the
spring and summer these symptoms
disappear and the patient generally
appears to be in good health in July
Or August. In the second stage the
patient generally loses appetite dur
ing the winter season and evinces
either great thirst or a distaste for
liquids. In many cases there is a
strong distaste for food prepared from
Indian corn. Diarrhoea is not un-
common, there is swelling in the
region Of the stomach and the tongue
is coated. In the third stage nerv-
BUSINESS is especially marked, with
pains in the head and other parts of
the body; also vertigo, sleeplessness
and noise in the ears. The patient is
exceedingly irritable. There is a loss
of emOr and inability to think. Dur
ing the progress Of the disease the pa
tient becomes anemic. The taste is
perverted, tire patient often commonly
complaining that everything eaten
tastes salty. The skin irritation be-
comes acute, ulcers sometimes form
ing in the affected regions. The pa
tient suffers from profound melan-
cholia and often attempts self destruc-
ton. Finally the patient succumbs
though the disease is often greatly
prolonged"
DIR. SOule, in his article says the dis
ease is difficult of treatment, that re-
covery is slow and "the trouble seems
to be almost wholly chargeable to
using corn for food, which has under
1880 ~n~ RI
urges care in growing corn, housing
and keeping it dry, and that only va
~rieties be used that ripen fully before
frost, that danger from pellagra can,
Of course be avoided by refraining
from eating corn, but if proper care is
exercised in the selection of corn used
for foe there will be little danger of
contracting the disease"
Trouble is the Bad Corn.
Discussions and articles relative to
pellagra, which ascribe the disease to
corn, is hat it is bad corn that causes
the trouble and that there is no inner
ent troudble in the corn itself, and that
as long as the simpler processes for
curing corn are in vogue there will
be no trouble. DR.. William T. Wood
ley, of Charlotte, who has written con-
corning the disease ascribes it's rise to
use Of corn which has been cured in
the shock, a western method. that be-
fore it is given time to dry it is husk-
ed and marketed. hat sixty days
longer should be allowed to corn in
the shock than to corn in the field,
that there is too often hurry to clear
the fields, especially in the North, SO
as to harvest before winter. He sug-
gests that the mills be required to
use only corn cured under Supervi-
sion; that cost what this may, it must
be done, SO as to save life; that there
would De no great cost as the amount
of corn ground for human OF is
small as compared to the annual yield.
He does not believe that the trouble is
to be attributed to the steam rolling
mills. The idea is that good corn
harms no one: that it is the spoiled
corn that causes the trouble. This
theory is held by the majority Of
physicians in Italy, while others hin
it is caused by a microbe in the corn,
though no microbe of the kind has
been formed.
Let There Be Government Inspection.
Italy has taken hold Of the question
by government inspection of corn and
laws that are have been
passed and the government dries the
home grown product free Of charge
for the peasants. In that country all
pellagra patients are under the charge
of the government. The belief is
held by many that these will Ultimate
ly have to inspect and look after all
corn sold for use as food, SO as to
keep good corn and spoiled corn sepa-
rate. In the South the pellagra trOu-
BILE, when it is ascribed to corn, is
charged to the Western corn and the
method in which it is handled by the
producer AMI by the miilers when it
is ground into meal. Legislation to
cure these troubles would seem as
necessary as the quarantine laws, and
certainly as important as attention
given to tick eradication.
DR.. +. j. Wood Discusses 1t.
DR.. E. J.. Wood, of Wilmington, who