1720-1735

Spaniard Gaspar Casal studies mal de la rosa (pellagra) and found it useful to provide milk, cheese, eggs, and meat but stopped short of attributing it to deficiency of food. In 1771, Italian Francis Frapolii, studying poor around Milan, named the condition pelegra, later pellagra from Italian pelle (skin) and agra (rough), concluding it could be cured by a robust diet; then in 1776, Italian Joseph Odoarali blamed it on excessive use of corn, and in 1783, Italian Francesco Fanzago confirmed that pellagra victims subsisted on potenta (made of ground cornmeal). In 1810, Italian Giovanni Marzari proposed pellagra might be a deficiency disease, as corn lacked something essential to health (Bryan, 81-83).