SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS 



Abstracts of Communications. 



Seventy-sixth meeting. 



Yale University, New Haven, May 24, iqi6. Vice-President Gies 



in the chair. 



80 (1144) 



The therapeutic effect of wheat germ and of yeast in infantile 



scurvy. 



By Alfred F. Hess. 



[From the Bureau of Laboratories, Department of Health, 

 New York.] 



As is well known, yeast is a specific therapeutic agent in the 

 cure of beri beri or its prototype, polyneuritis gallinarum. Studies 

 upon infants showed, however, that when autolyzed yeast was 

 given in daily quantity of 15 to 30 cc. a day, it was unable to 

 cure moderate cases of infantile scurvy, even when taken for a 

 period of two to three weeks. Yeast was however able to bring 

 about growth in infants. 



Wheat germ was found to possess antiscorbutic power, which 

 however cannot be compared to that of orange juice. In some in- 

 stances it was able to prevent the occurrence of the subacute 

 scurvy which follows the use of pasteurized milk; in one instance 

 this disorder developed notwithstanding the fact that the infant 

 had received wheat germ and the watery extract of the germ for 

 many weeks. 



Scurvy can develop while an infant is making steady gain in 

 weight for weeks or months, and, on the other hand, the symptoms 

 can disappear under antiscorbutic treatment, although no gain 

 is manifested. It is therefore evident that growth is not an es- 



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