ABSTRACT
In a treatise on scurvy, the famous English physician T. Willis mentioned the occurrence of intracranial haemorrhage in the course of this disease. J. C. Paterson described capillary rupture and haemorrhage from within the intima of the cerebral arteries as being the apparent initial cause of cerebral thrombosis. R. W. Vilter et al. recorded the development of hemiplegia, due to thrombosis of the right middle cerebral artery, in a 54-year-old man admitted to hospital with scurvy. M. W. Thewlis and E. T. Gale recommended dietary supplements of ascorbic acid and the bioflavonoid rutin to decrease capillary fragility in the hope of preventing cerebral haemorrhage and thrombosis. An observation by C. C. Lund showed the possibility of ascorbic acid deficiency leading to cerebral haemorrhage to be very real. Minor cerebral embolic, thrombotic, or hemorrhagic incidents may be recognized principally by the suddenness of onset of a change in cerebral function, but may otherwise be difficult to recognize for what they are.
