A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)
Little is known about the fate of the crew of the Franklin expedition after they sailed from England in 1845. Scant physical evidence and limited Inuit testimony have fueled speculation that the crew had scurvy, had been poisoned by lead, or had botulism or tuberculosis. The Schwatka expedition (187...
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic4629 2024-06-09T07:41:58+00:00 A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) Taichman, Russell S. Gross, Tom MacEachern, Mark P. 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4629 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/67667/51563 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 70, issue 1 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2017 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4629 2024-05-14T12:53:43Z Little is known about the fate of the crew of the Franklin expedition after they sailed from England in 1845. Scant physical evidence and limited Inuit testimony have fueled speculation that the crew had scurvy, had been poisoned by lead, or had botulism or tuberculosis. The Schwatka expedition (1878 – 80) documented that several Inuit families had observed sailors of the Franklin expedition dragging ship’s boats in Washington Bay on the southwest coast of King William Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Inuit reported that the men appeared thin and the mouths of some of them were hard, dry, and black. Many Franklin scholars believe from this description that the surviving crews were suffering from scurvy and possibly lead poisoning. Using a systematic review of the medical literature to assess the Inuit testimony, we reviewed 1718 citations. With this approach, we identified a new and plausible explanation for the wasting and oral conditions ascribed to some of the survivors. We believe that miliary tuberculosis resulting in adrenal insufficiency (or Addison’s disease) may have resulted in the oral and physical symptoms witnessed by the Inuit. Scurvy and lead exposure may have contributed to the pathogenesis of Addison’s disease, but the hypothesis is not wholly dependent on these conditions. The tuberculosis-Addison’s hypothesis results in a deeper understanding of one of the greatest mysteries of Arctic exploration. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic inuit King William Island Nunavut Arctic Institute of North America Arctic Canada King William Island ENVELOPE(-97.418,-97.418,69.168,69.168) Nunavut Washington Bay ENVELOPE(-98.334,-98.334,68.801,68.801) William Island ENVELOPE(-130.703,-130.703,54.035,54.035) ARCTIC 70 1 |
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Arctic Institute of North America |
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description |
Little is known about the fate of the crew of the Franklin expedition after they sailed from England in 1845. Scant physical evidence and limited Inuit testimony have fueled speculation that the crew had scurvy, had been poisoned by lead, or had botulism or tuberculosis. The Schwatka expedition (1878 – 80) documented that several Inuit families had observed sailors of the Franklin expedition dragging ship’s boats in Washington Bay on the southwest coast of King William Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Inuit reported that the men appeared thin and the mouths of some of them were hard, dry, and black. Many Franklin scholars believe from this description that the surviving crews were suffering from scurvy and possibly lead poisoning. Using a systematic review of the medical literature to assess the Inuit testimony, we reviewed 1718 citations. With this approach, we identified a new and plausible explanation for the wasting and oral conditions ascribed to some of the survivors. We believe that miliary tuberculosis resulting in adrenal insufficiency (or Addison’s disease) may have resulted in the oral and physical symptoms witnessed by the Inuit. Scurvy and lead exposure may have contributed to the pathogenesis of Addison’s disease, but the hypothesis is not wholly dependent on these conditions. The tuberculosis-Addison’s hypothesis results in a deeper understanding of one of the greatest mysteries of Arctic exploration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Taichman, Russell S. Gross, Tom MacEachern, Mark P. |
spellingShingle |
Taichman, Russell S. Gross, Tom MacEachern, Mark P. A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) |
author_facet |
Taichman, Russell S. Gross, Tom MacEachern, Mark P. |
author_sort |
Taichman, Russell S. |
title |
A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) |
title_short |
A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) |
title_full |
A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) |
title_fullStr |
A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Critical Assessment of the Oral Condition of the Crew of the Franklin Expedition + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools) |
title_sort |
critical assessment of the oral condition of the crew of the franklin expedition + supplementary appendix 1 (see article tools) |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4629 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/67667/51563 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-97.418,-97.418,69.168,69.168) ENVELOPE(-98.334,-98.334,68.801,68.801) ENVELOPE(-130.703,-130.703,54.035,54.035) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada King William Island Nunavut Washington Bay William Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada King William Island Nunavut Washington Bay William Island |
genre |
Arctic Arctic inuit King William Island Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic inuit King William Island Nunavut |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 70, issue 1 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4629 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
70 |
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1 |
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1801370694572834816 |