THE VITAMINES IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



129 



fed with rye, or wheat bread (and water), or with oats, rye, wheat, 

 barley, and rice flour, died within a few weeks. Hoist and Frolich 

 used animals weighing about 350 grams since they could better with- 

 stand the great loss in weight (about 40 per cent) . In a later publica- 

 tion, the same investigators (359) came to the conclusion that human, 

 as well as guinea pig, scurvy may be attributed to the same causes; 

 they sought also to differentiate between experimental scurvy and 

 simple inanition. Starvation, in which there is a loss of from 30 to 

 40 per cent in weight, yields no scorbutic symptoms; on the contrary, 

 scorbutic symptoms ordinarily appear before the 

 animals show any appreciable emaciation. 



Not all workers accept the simple etiological ex- 

 planation of scurvy in guinea pigs. Jackson and 

 Moore (361) and Jackson and Moody (362) be- 

 lieved that there was an infectious factor in the 

 etiology. Moore and Jackson (363) strengthened 

 their belief after they had seen that raw milk 

 could not protect these animals from scurvy. 

 The explanation for this is to be sought in the 

 probability that the milk used did not contain FIG. 31. SCORBUTIC^E 

 enough vitamine C for this type animal. In con- 

 trast to the above investigators, Givens and Hoff- 

 man (364) were able to demonstrate the absolute 

 sterility of the blood of the diseased animals. 

 Further, McCollum and Pitz (I.e. 69) believed that 

 scurvy in guinea pigs was due to constipation, and made the 

 sweeping statement that scurvy, as an avitaminosis, was non-existent, 

 and that the known antiscorbutic, properties of fruit juices could be 

 explained by their laxative action. They stated that other laxatives, 

 like phenolphthalein and mineral oil, could be used with the same 

 success. These statements were further developed by Pitz (365) a 

 co-worker of McCollum's, who found that lactose acted favorably, 

 and that its function was to modify the bacterial intestinal flora. 

 The observations of McCollum and his co-workers immediately 

 aroused a storm of protest. 15 Shortly thereafter, Harden and Zilva 

 (367) showed beyond a doubt that the results of McCollum were 

 due to the fact that he gave the guinea pigs milk, ad libitum, and 



18 Torrey and Hess (366) have investigated the bacterial intestinal flora 

 in guinea pigs and in infants, but failed to find any abnormalities. 



MUROF A GUINEA PIG, 



WITH PALE MARROW 



AND. ATROPHIC 



TRABECULAE 

 (HOLST-FROLICH) 



