Potatoes, raw or boiled, may serve as an effective antiscorbutic, 10 g. raw 80 or 20 g. cooked for one-half hour at 100 81 giving complete protection to guinea pigs. Report 38 of the Medical Research Committee says: 82

Among roots and tubers the potato easily takes the first place in practical importance, not so much because of its intrinsic value, but because owing to its abundance, cheapness, and general acceptability large quantities are regularly consumed. There is no doubt that in northern climates the potato is of the utmost value in preventing scurvy during the winter and spring. Epidemics of scurvy have repeatedly followed failure of the potato harvest, e. g. in Norway in 1904, Ireland in 1847. The outbreaks of scurvy reported in Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle in the spring of 1917 are doubtless to be attributed to the great scarcity of potatoes at that period.

The Report goes on to say:

Onions take a position between the more and the less potent vegetables They possess a special importance, however, owing to the ease with which they can be transported, and are much appreciated whether raw or cooked by reason of their flavor. For these reasons they should always be included in rationing soldiers, sailors, or other communities of people at the end of long lines of communication cut off from fresh supplies.

76 Campbell and Chick, Lancet, 1918, ii, 321.

77 Chick and Rhodes, Lane, ii, 774.

78 Davis, private communication.

79Chick and Rhodes, Lancet, 1918, ii, 774.

80 Chick, Home and Skelton, Lancet, 1919, ii, 774.

81 Oivens and McClugage, J. Biol. Ghexn. 42, 491, 1920.

82 Med Res. Com. (London) Report 38, p. 60.

Davis 83 found that while the bulb of the onion contains some C it is insufficient as the sole source of this vitamin for guinea pigs, even when fed at the rate of 20 g. per day.

That the inclusion of a small supply of vegetables in the diet is not necessarily a complete safeguard is demonstrated by a case of scurvy reported by Wiltshire.84 Sixteen patients, for a month before admission to hospital, had been under a diet which should have not only prevented but actually cured scurvy. Eleven had received "plenty " of onions daily, and most of them had also had potatoes with rice twice a week and spinach twice a week. No alkali was -used in the cooking of these vegetables, but the result observed possibly may have been due to the destruction of the vitamin by excessively long cooking.

Animal products are less satisfactory than vegetables in antiscorbutic power. Cow's milk is effective only when fed in relatively very large amounts. Curran 85 reported that one pint of milk daily was insufficient to protect adults from scurvy on a diet deficient in fresh meat and vegetables. Barnes and Hume 86 found that guinea pigs on a diet of oats and bran required from 100 to 150 c. c. and monkeys from 125 to 175 c. c. of milk per day respectively to give adequate protection. Hart, Steenbock and Smith87 observed that absolute protection was secured for guinea pigs on a diet of oats and hay by the addition of 84 c. c. of milk to the diet per day. Probably the antiscorbutic power of milk varies rather considerably according to the nature and quantity of the food eaten by the cow.88

Hess and Unger89 report that feeding with whole eggs failed to delay the onset of guinea pig scurvy and showed no curative effect in cases of infantile scurvy.

Fresh meat is not without value, if fed in sufficient amounts.-Lind observed that green turtle soup had curative power in scurvy cases. Willcox 90 asserts that fresh meat is a valuable antiscorbutic, and Stef anson91 states that fresh meat in large quantities prevented and cured scurvy in his Arctic expeditions. Many additional cases drawn from the experience of explorers and pioneers are quoted in Report 38 of the Medical Research Committee.92 This Report draws the conclusion that scurvy can be prevented by the use of fresh meat alone if the ration is large. "The history of Arctic experience is full of such cases. Dr. Rae, surgeon to the Hudson Bay Company, in his evidence to the Scurvy Commissioners of 1876, stated that among the inhabitants of that district scurvy was almost unknown. The people subsisted almost entirely on meat, but the amount consumed was upon the following scale: Eight pounds fresh venison daily per man, four pounds per woman, two pounds per child.

83 Davis, private communication.

84Wiltshire, Lancet 1918, ii, 811.

85Curran, Dub. J. Med. Sc. 7, 83, 1847.

86 Barnes and Hume, Bioch. J. 13, 306, 1919.

87 Hart, Steenbock and Smith, J. Biol. Chem. 38, 305, 1919.

88 Barnes and Hume, Bioch. J. 13, 306, 1919; Dutcher, Pierson and Blester, J. Biol. Chem. 42, 301, 1920; Dutcher, Eckles, Dahle, Mead and Schae-fer, Sei. 1920, 689.

89 Hess and Unger, J. Biol. Chem. 35, 479, 1918. 90 Willcox, Lancet 1919, ii, 979.

"Nansen and Johansen, after leaving the Fram, spent two months, including the winter of 1895-6, on Frederick Jackson Island in a rudely constructed hut. They remained in good health and free from scurvy although obtaining no lime juice and no fresh vegetables and subsisting mainly on fresh walrus and bear meat preserved by cold.

"Jackson and Harley describe an interesting incident at Eharbo-rova, Yugor Straits, where six Russian priests arrived in the autumn, attended by a small Russian boy. The priests by their religious vows were prevented from eating the fresh meat available; they subsisted on salt fish and there were no vegetables. In the following May the little boy was found to be the only surviving member of the party, and had buried all his late masters in the snow. He suffered from no religious prohibitions and had fed largely on reindeer meat through the winter. A further instance is provided in the experience of Scott's first expedition93 where an outbreak of scurvy was cured by the inclusion in the dietary of large quantities of fresh seal meat.

"From Colonel Hehir's report on the medical history of the siege of Kut it is clear that in this case also British soldiers were protected from scurvy by their regular ration of meat or horse flesh, but the amounts they consumed were considerable, 8 to 20 oz. daily. The Indian troops in Kut, on the other hand, who were vegetarians, suffered severely from scurvy.

"Tinned and preserved meats can be dismissed in a word, as not offering any suitable protection from scurvy. Meat in its fresh condition contains the anti-scurvy factor in comparatively low concentration, and after exposure to the temperature necessary for sterilization it is scarcely possible that any significant anti-scurvy properties should be retained.

91 Stefanson, J. Am. Med. An. 71, 1715, 1918.

92 Med. Res. Com. London, Special Report 38, p. 63.

93Voyage of the Discovery".