202 THE VITAMINS 



gumes, are either entirely devoid of vitamin C or contain so little of 

 it as to show practically no antiscorbutic value in experiments upon 

 the guinea pig. However, with the sprouting of the seed a develop- 

 ment of antiscorbutic property occurs which must mean that the rest- 

 ing seed contains some substance so closely related to vitamin C as to 

 be transformed into it in the process of germination of the seed. Fiirst 

 (1912), working in the laboratory of Hoist and Frolich, demonstrated 

 this fact in the cure of guinea pig scurvy with germinated seeds. Chick 

 and Hume (1917, 1917a) confirmed his findings with germinated peas 

 and lentils and suggested that in case of unavoidable shortage of fresh 

 fruit and vegetables in army rations a substitute could be quickly made 

 available by germinating the pulses included in the usual army field 

 rations. Practical directions were given for the germination of the pulses 

 under active service conditions. 



Acting on their suggestion, Wiltshire (1918) compared germinated 

 beans with lemon juice as antiscorbutic for scurvy patients (Serbian 

 soldiers) in a war hospital in London. Thirty patients were treated 

 with lemon juice and twenty-seven with germinated beans; the two 

 groups of patients having been selected as being in as nearly the same 

 condition as possible. Those treated with lemon juice received 4 ounces 

 of the fresh juice daily. In comparison with those, each patient in 

 the other group received, as his daily allowance of antiscorbutic, the 

 product resulting from 4 ounces of beans weighed dry, soaked 24 hours, 

 germinated for 48 hours at a temperature of 60° to 70° C. and then 

 cooked for 10 minutes. Of the patients receiving the germinated beans, 

 70 per cent recovered within four weeks as against 53 per cent of 

 recoveries within the same length of time among those receiving the 

 lemon juice. A better standard of comparison in Wiltshire's report 

 was the time required for the return of the gums to normal condition, 

 which averaged 3.1 weeks for the patients receiving germinated beans 

 and 3.4 weeks for those receiving lemon juice. Judged from either 

 standpoint it is evident that in this case the germinated beans were 

 fully as efficient as the lemon juice in the quantities used. 



Simple infusions of malted (sprouted) grains may possess suffi- 

 cient antiscorbutic vitamin to be an important factor in the prevention 

 of scurvy, as is indicated by experience as early as that of Captain 

 Cook and as late as that of the South African negro labor camps in 

 France during the World War (Hess, 1920) ; McClendon, Cole, Eng- 

 strand and Middlekaufif (1919) have also reported experiments dem- 

 onstrating the antiscorbutic value of germinated barley. Qarified beer, 

 however, has failed to show antiscorbutic value. 



