66 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATIONAL NEEDS 



Some Practical Applicatio7is to Human Diets. — 

 Prominent among the antiscorbutics upon which 

 reliance was placed by the old-time seamen were 

 beer and infusion of malt — the sweet wort familiar 

 to the reader of Captain Cook's voyages. Freshly 

 brewed beer, spruce beer and malt, for the pre- 

 paration of the sweet wort, were frequently carried 

 as preventives against the scurvy by the ships of 

 the navy and of Arctic explorers, and these 

 materials all seem to have been used with good 

 effect. 



An investigation of modern beers and of the malt 

 from which they are prepared ^ has shown that 

 these are sadly deficient in the antiscorbutic factor. 

 Guinea-pigs receiving malt or a considerable ration 

 of bottled beer or stout were not in any way pro- 

 tected from the onset of scurvy, and the same was 

 true of a monkey which was given, and after some 

 experience appeared to enjoy, a daily ration of 

 about 180 cc. of India Pale Ale of an original 

 gravity of 1053, fined and drawn from the wood. 

 This beer is representative of that largely con- 

 sumed in normal times and was freshly brewed, no 

 sample having been in the cask more than a week 

 or so. If we can accept the experience of Captain 

 Cook and the earlier Arctic explorers as reliable, it 

 would seem probable that the difference between 

 the old and the modern beer may lie in the high 



1 Harden and Zilva, J. Inst. Brewing, 1918, 24, 197. 



