It might be thought that _the blood_--the purveyor of the vitamines to the tissues--would be particularly rich in these essential factors. Such, however, was not our experience in respect to the antiscorbutic vitamine. The blood possibly varies greatly in this respect according to the diet of the individual, or even according to the interval elapsing after the ingestion of antiscorbutic food. Our opinion is based on the surprisingly poor therapeutic effect of blood transfusion in the treatment of scurvy. To illustrate: An infant weighing about fifteen pounds received six intravenous injections of citrated blood--one of 200 c.c., given by the direct method, and a month later five smaller transfusions with citrated blood, which aggregated 205 c.c.[25] In spite of this addition of blood, the hemorrhage and congestion of the gums did not disappear, nor the general condition improve, as would have happened had 50 or 75 c.c. of orange juice been given by mouth. It seems probable that small quantities of vitamine are being transmitted at all times by the blood and supplied to the cells, but that its normal content of this factor is not great. The antiscorbutic potency of blood may perhaps be compared to that of milk. Animal investigation may show that various vessels--for example, those supplying or draining certain glandular organs--differ in the antiscorbutic quality of the blood which they carry. It is evident, therefore, that many transitory factors may influence the vitamine content of the blood, and that--as in the case of milk and fruits and vegetables--we are not dealing with a constant and unvarying agent. [25] The dates and quantities of the transfusions were as follows: March 26th, 200 c.c.; April 27th, 30 c.c.; April 28th, 35 c.c.; April 29th, 30 c.c.; May 2nd, 75 c.c.; May 3rd, 35 c.c. Nothing whatsoever is known concerning the _excretion_ of the antiscorbutic vitamine. No attempts have been made to recover it from the urine, or to ascertain if, when large amounts are ingested, the excess is thrown off by the body. This suggests the question--a corollary of that raised in connection with the vitamine content of the blood--whether it is immaterial if the vitamine is taken frequently in small amounts, or is provided only occasionally and at longer intervals in larger amounts. Is it of no moment whether the infant receive its quota of antiscorbutic every few hours through the medium of the breast milk, or only once a day in the form of orange juice or tomato? If we turn to studies on the other vitamines for enlightenment as to the possibility of excretion, we find that Muckenfuss recovered the water-soluble factor from ox bile and from human urine.[26] In this article he proposes the interesting question of a possible variation in the vitamine output under pathological conditions, which may be responsible for the development of functional disturbances in children.