[26] This investigation was carried out by means of activating fuller's earth with these fluids. This method is inapplicable to the antiscorbutic vitamine, which is not adsorbed by this material. An attempt to feed concentrated human urine to guinea-pigs resulted in their death. It would be of interest to know the _fate of the antiscorbutic vitamine in the gastro-intestinal tract_. How is it affected by a lack of the acid gastric juice, or by the alkaline intestinal secretions, or by the bacteria in the lumen of the gut? From which part of the intestine is it largely absorbed? May an appreciable amount undergo destruction before this is accomplished? None of these questions can be answered satisfactorily in the present state of our knowledge, but they suggest that the mere fact that an adequate quota of antiscorbutic vitamine is provided in the food does not necessarily insure an adequate supply for the tissues. If in addition to the question of intake we must take into account that the vitamines may suffer various vicissitudes, it may come to pass that pathological conditions at times destroy or render them partially inactive. In this way we may account for irregularities in the clinical course of disorders associated with vitamine deficiency. Of prime importance, however, is the effect of the vitamines _on the glands of the alimentary tract and on the digestive processes_. A diminution of gastric juice, or in some instances a total absence, has been observed in adult scurvy, and noted by us in two cases of infantile scurvy. As mentioned elsewhere, some consider the function of the water-soluble vitamine analogous to that of secretin. In applying this hypothesis to scurvy it must be borne in mind that the sequence may be reversed, that the lack of vitamine may not lead to the gastric achylia, but that the achylia may come about secondarily as the result of the malnutrition.