1915] Casimir Funk 33 ^ 



approach the zone where the cultivation of potato ceases and maize 

 plantations appear, as in South Russia, on the Roumanian border, 

 or in Western GaHcia, we encounter cases of pellagra. It seems, 

 theref ore, that the United States government could eradicate pellagra 

 entirely by an introduction of potato culture in pellagra districts, 

 as I have already suggested. It is obvious that such plans could not 

 be executed at once but it seems advisable that such an experiment 

 should be tried on a large scale. 



We may now consider another point of practical importance, 

 namely, the question of the preparation or milling of maize, pre- 

 vious to its use as a food. 



Milling of maize. On studying the data for the mortality from 

 pellagra in different countries I was surprised to note the discrep- 

 ancies among the figures. Thus, for example, in Italy and Egypt the 

 mortality is very low, attaining only 4 percent, whereas in the 

 United States the mortality is as high as 20-25 percent. The dif- 

 ferences in mortality may be due to several causes as, for example, 

 more or less exclusive diet of maize. But among the possibilities 

 one factor requires particular attention, i. c, the question of the 

 preparation of maize. My attention was drawn to this point by Dr. 

 Macaulay, of Cape Colony, who was one of the members of the 

 commission for the investigation of scurvy in the mines. He noticed 

 that the maize used there as a staple food undergoes a severe milling 

 process, during which 14 percent of the grain is lost for human 

 use and employed for feeding cattle. The population there suffered 

 severely from scurvy, as has already been stated. Macaulay tried 

 to introduce legislative measures prohibiting such excessive milling 

 but encountered considerable Opposition from the farmers, who had, 

 in the wastage of the milling process, a very cheap and nourish- 

 ing food for cattle. Finally, however, he succeeded in placing on 

 the market maize which had been subjected to less extensive milling 

 and which represented 97 percent of the total grain. Samples of 

 this maize sent to me were analyzed. The results are given in the 

 table (84) on p. 332. 



We see, from the accompanying diagram, that the chief nutritive 

 substances are localized, in the South African maize, in the aleurone 

 layer of the kernel near the surface of the grain, and in the germ. 



