208 THE VITAMINS 



reported in regard to the outbreak of scurvy in the Polar expedition 

 of 1875-76, that "although the scurvy w^as due to the absence of lime 

 juice from the sledge dietaries, meat in large amounts is able to pre- 

 vent the disease." Stefansson (1918, 1918a) reported avoidance of 

 scurvy during his Arctic explorations by the use of large quantities 

 of meat from freshly killed game, this meat being usually eaten raw. 

 In view of the fact that even when eaten in very large amounts meat 

 can be expected to prevent scurvy only if eaten raw or nearly so, we 

 must conclude that cooked meat, as ordinarily eaten, probably furnishes 

 but insignificant amounts of the antiscorbutic vitamin. 



There is a somewhat higher concentration in the glandular organs 

 and perhaps also in the blood. As has been noted previously, the pres- 

 ence of vitamin C has been demonstrated in chicken liver (Hart, 

 Steenbock, Lepkovsky and Halpin, 1925) and calve's liver (Thurston, 

 Palmer and Eckles, 1929) even although these species do not require 

 vitamin C in their food. The absence of vitamin C in the liver of guinea 

 pigs on a scorbutic ration and its presence in considerable amounts in 

 the livers of normal guinea pigs (Parsons and Reynolds, 1924) suggest 

 that in those species requiring vitamin C the concentration in the liver 

 depends largely upon the amount present in the food supply. 



The concentration of vitamin C in milk is likewise largely dependent 

 upon the food of the nursing mother or lactating animal. Chick, Hume 

 and Skelton (1918) found that with fresh cow's milk as the sole source 

 of vitamin C complete protection was secured when guinea pigs were 

 fed an average of 85 cubic centimeters of milk per capita per day. On 

 the usual assumption that a baby requires about five times as much 

 vitamin C as a guinea pig, this result agrees well with the general expe- 

 rience of Hess (1920, p. 152) that an infant will receive sufficient 

 antiscorbutic vitamin from one pint of fresh milk per day. These esti- 

 mates may be considered to apply to milk of average or nearly average 

 antiscorbutic value. H the value is materially lessened by heating or 

 ageing of the milk or by faulty feeding of the cow more milk will be 

 required ; and conversely fresh milk from a cow properly fed may 

 be considerably richer in vitamin C than these studies would indicate. 



The influence of the feed of the cow upon the antiscorbutic value 

 of the milk produced was investigated by Hart, Steenbock and Ellis 

 (1920). The samples of milk tested included dry feed milk, obtained 

 from a herd of 18 cows which had never been fed any fresh vegetable 

 tissues but only air-dried roughages and grains ; summer pasture milk 

 from cows which during part of the day grazed on a timothy, blue 

 grass, clover pasture ; and winter-produced milk from cows fed on 



