[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Hay, oats, water _ad libitum_, and 7 g. of dehydrated carrots dried at a room temperature of about 130° F. about 1 month previously. All animals developed scurvy. The marked gain in weight when an equivalent amount of fresh carrots was substituted for the dehydrated vegetable corresponded to the disappearance of scorbutic signs. Guinea-Pig B 951 did not receive fresh carrots, as it was evidently ailing at the time the second period began.] Experimental investigation on this subject may be summarized as showing that vegetables dried according to present methods lose their antiscorbutic value as the result of dehydrating (Fig. 12), and that they become still more impoverished as the result of aging. We should not sweepingly condemn the principle of dehydration, as very possibly some slight modifications in the process may be devised which will counteract the deteriorating influence. In their paper of 1912, to which reference has been made so often, Holst and Froelich reported that potatoes, carrots, peas, lentils and almonds have practically no protective value after they are thoroughly dried. In two reports--one giving the results of feeding various brands of dehydrated carrots to guinea-pigs, and the other of an attempt to cure scurvy in babies by means of these carrots--we also came to the conclusion that the antiscorbutic factor had been almost completely destroyed. Givens and Cohen (1918) found that even cabbage dried at a low temperature retained only a small amount of its potency after a month, and Delf and Skelton came to practically the same conclusion, also noting that the cabbage on being kept, steadily lost what little of the antiscorbutic factor had survived the drying process. The same was true of the fat-soluble factor. These authors made an observation which may prove of value in helping to solve this problem, namely, that "the residual amount is distinctly greater if the cabbage is plunged into boiling water before drying." This protective action of heat they suggest may indicate that: "Some at least of the destruction may be due to the activity of an enzyme or other body originally present in the living tissue." Another observation which may prove of practical value in rendering dehydrated vegetables the nutritional equivalent of the fresh vegetable is that when the carrots selected for dehydration are young and fresh a product is obtained which possesses decided antiscorbutic power. In this connection the following statement by Falk and his co-workers in a study of the enzyme action of vegetables and the effect of dehydration is significant: "In considering these enzyme results, it may be pointed out that the state of ripeness and the age of the vegetable undoubtedly influence the activities."