The newest theory, and the one at present most widely accepted, is the _vitamine_ (_accessory factor_) _theory_. It was evident to Lind in the seventeenth century that scurvy could be prevented and cured by means of fruits or vegetables, a fact which became increasingly clear to succeeding generations. Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, however, this miraculous virtue of plants stimulated little inquiry and no research. As far back as 1841 Budd realized that "the explanation depended on the study of organic chemistry, and the experiments of physiologists," but until recently it was not perceived that the solution of the problem involved the introduction of a new chemical factor. This view suddenly took shape after Eijkman in 1897 showed the nature of polyneuritis in fowl, and Hopkins in 1906, going a step farther, demonstrated the necessity of one or more unidentified food factors for the normal nutrition of the rat. The work which established this novel theory on a scientific basis in relation to scurvy was the classic investigation of Holst and Froelich, referred to so frequently in connection with experimental scurvy. These investigators showed that the mere drying of vegetables was sufficient to deprive them of their antiscorbutic power, although from a chemical standpoint they seemed unaltered; that high degrees of heat had generally the same effect; that under certain conditions these foods withstood prolonged heating, demonstrating that the antiscorbutic factor was not a ferment; that acids and alkalies played no essential rôle in the etiology; that fats, proteins and carbohydrates were not significant factors; that as little as 1.0 g. of cabbage suffices to afford protection to a guinea-pig. In other words, by a process of exclusion they showed that it is a disorder due to the lack of an unidentified food factor.