=Antiscorbutic Foods.=--As far as has been ascertained, the antiscorbutic food factor exists in all fresh vegetable and animal tissues, being present to a far greater degree in the former than in the latter. It is distinguished by being associated in nature with cells which are the seat of active metabolism, just as the water-soluble vitamine is associated mainly with cells which are in an inactive or dormant state. Vegetables or fruits may be mildly or highly antiscorbutic; there is indeed a remarkable difference in their content of antiscorbutic factor or vitamine. They vary widely also in the degree to which their potency is affected by physical or chemical conditions. In this chapter the most common animal and vegetable antiscorbutic foodstuffs will be considered and the effect which processes such as drying, canning, change of reaction, etc., exert on their specific value. Their therapeutic application in the prevention and cure of scurvy will be considered in a subsequent chapter. Until recently our knowledge of this subject was empirical and inaccurate; as the result of scientific work, however, carried out during the past few years in different parts of the world, quantitative and comparative figures of antiscorbutic food values have been evolved. =Milk.=--It is important to have as accurate an idea as possible of the value of milk as an antiscorbutic, as the infant depends on it during the first months of its life for a supply of this essential factor. Considerable attention has been paid to this question in the last few years, and recent reports tend to confirm the former estimations which had been overlooked and forgotten. In 1847 Curran wrote that in the Irish epidemic of this year they had admitted to the Dublin Union Hospital 80 cases of scurvy which had been on a diet which included one pint of milk daily, but was deficient in vegetables. From this experience he realized that milk was not rich in the principles which protect against scurvy. In the following year Parkes came to the same conclusion, stating that 500 to 750 c.c. of raw milk did not always suffice to prevent scurvy. In addition to these opinions concerning adults, similar conclusions have been drawn from clinical experience with infants. Barlow (1894) realized that a small amount of milk was insufficient to protect against scurvy. Still writes: "The antiscorbutic power of fresh, unboiled milk is evidently slight." In 1914 Hess and Fish pointed out that "milk must not be considered as having potent antiscorbutic properties." Nevertheless, when this question was raised recently by the experimental work of Jackson and Moore, and that of McCollum and Pitz, it was not appreciated that, like other antiscorbutics, milk must be regarded from a quantitative standpoint, and that, as it is a weak antiscorbutic, its effect must depend largely on the quantity consumed.