SCURVY 69 



however, that this is not the case.^ In fact, the 

 whole of the free citric acid can be removed from 

 the juice — by treating with calcium carbonate and 

 precipitating with alcohol — without any appreciable 

 loss of antiscorbutic power. The solution obtained 

 in this way, after evaporation at a low temperature, 

 has a neutral reaction, and contains only one- 

 seventh of the total solids and one-half of the 

 mineral constituents of the original lemon- juice. 

 It is of great value as a remedial agent (p. 71) 

 and can, by evaporation, be brought to a much 

 higher concentration of the antiscorbutic principle 

 than that of the original lemon- juice. 



Milk and Milk Products. — Great interest attaches 

 to the question of the antiscorbutic value of milk 

 and the various preparations now made from it, on 

 account of their supreme importance as food for 

 infants. The breast-fed child depends entirely on 

 its mother's milk for all the accessory factors which 

 are necessary for life, but, since the human organism 

 is apparently unable to build up these essential 

 substances for itself, the mother is herself dependent 

 for them on her diet. Accordingly an adequate 

 provision in the milk can only be maintained when 

 the diet of the mother is itself adequate, and it is 

 of the utmost importance that the diet of pregnant 

 and lactating women should be chosen so as to 

 contain abundance not only of the antiscorbutic 



1 Harden and Zilva, Biochem. J., 1918, 12. 259. 



