SCURVY 67 



temperature now employed for the kilning of malt, 

 and air-dried malt and the wort and beer made 

 from it should contain the antiscorbutic principle. 

 This surmise has, however, not yet been put to the 

 test of experiment. The fining of the beer, whereby 

 it is freed from suspended matter, may also be of 

 importance, since, although yeast itself does not 

 contain the antiscorbutic, it is possible that this 

 may be adsorbed in the process of fining and thereby 

 removed from the beer. 



Lime- and Lemon-Juice. — The high value of the 

 various Citrus fruits as antiscorbutics has long 

 been appreciated, and for the last century and 

 a quarter reliance has been placed in the navy 

 and mercantile marine on lime-juice as a sure 

 preventive of scurvy. The researches of Miss 

 Chick and her colleagues on the experimental, 

 and of Mrs. Henderson Smith on the historical 

 side ^ have, however, revealed a very curious state 

 of afiairs. 



The juice of the lemon {Citrus medica, var. 

 limonum) is much more potent antiscorbutically 

 than that of the West Indian lime {Citrus medica, 

 var. acida) (about four times). When the lime- 

 juice is preserved, by the addition of 14 per cent of 

 rum, or of salicylic acid, it loses a considerable pro- 

 portion of its already small potency and becomes 

 of extremely low value as an antiscorbutic. Hence 



1 J.E.A.M.C., 1919, 32, 93, 188. 



