=Prevention.=--In the Temperate Zone, under ordinary conditions, the adult population consumes sufficient antiscorbutic foodstuff to protect it from scurvy. Under exceptional circumstances, however--for example, when the potato crop fails, or, in the case of individuals, when the diet has been unduly restricted, scurvy will be encountered. This disorder is still an important problem, however, in relation to the health of adults in the Tropics, in military expeditions and in Polar explorations. From what has been stated in the preceding chapter, it is evident that, at the present time, no reliance can be placed on dehydrated vegetables as a protective agent. The recent suggestion of using germinated dried pulses and seeds, under circumstances where fresh food is not available, is practical and probably will be resorted to in the future. To this end the pulses (beans, peas, lentils) are soaked in water for 24 hours, and then kept moist with access of air for about 48 hours at room temperature. During this period they sprout and develop small radicles. They are cooked in the usual way and have been found to possess an antiscorbutic value comparable to that of most vegetables. An individual should receive about four ounces a day of these sprouted seeds. In the treatment of some Serbian soldiers suffering from scurvy, Wiltshire found that this amount of germinated beans brought about a cure. There are, however, two drawbacks to their general use. The prolonged cooking necessary for their preparation reduces their antiscorbutic potency, and they have been found indigestible when consumed in sufficient quantity. Under similar conditions canned tomatoes can be employed; they have the disadvantage of greater bulk, but are a more potent antiscorbutic, require no preparation whatsoever, and are readily digested. They form part of the present ration of the United States Army, in which they can be given "in lieu of an equal quantity of potatoes not exceeding twenty per cent. of the total issue."[50] The necessity of including an antiscorbutic in the army ration has been recognized only in recent years; during our Civil War and for thirty years thereafter there was no such provision. It was stated at that time that a general scorbutic taint pervaded the troops--a mere euphemism for the widespread existence of subacute or latent scurvy. Even to-day the ration of the French and of the Italian armies makes no definite provision in this regard and the Russians provide merely for a variable quantity of vegetables.