126 



Scientific Proceedings (92). 



183 (1361) 



The influence of cooking and drying cabbage on its antiscorbutic 

 properties for guinea pigs. 1 



By Maurice H. Givens 2 and Barnett Cohen. 



[From the Sheffield Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry and the 

 School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven.] 



The experimental scurvy induced in guinea pigs by a special 

 soy bean-milk-yeast-paper pulp-salt diet 3 could be prevented by a 

 daily addition of 10 gm. raw cabbage along with the ration. Cab- 

 bage cooked for thirty minutes at 100 0 C, subsequently incor- 

 porated with the rest of the food, and dried at 65-70 0 C. for two 

 days lost its antiscorbutic power. Cabbage heated in an oven for 

 two hours at 75-80 0 C, then dried at 65-70 0 C, ground, intimately 

 mixed with the food, and the whole dried further for two days at 

 65-70° C. exhibited no potency as an antiscorbutic. Cabbage 

 dried in a blast of air at 40-52° C. retained some of its antiscor- 

 butic value in that it delayed markedly the onset of scorbutic 

 symptoms. Furthermore it could be used as a therapeutic agent 

 when the signs of scurvy were recognized early enough. 



Unmistakble Symptoms 

 Diet. Appeared, Days. Death Ensued, Days. 



Soy bean mixture 16-26 23-30. 



Soy bean mixture +10 gm. cabbage .None up to 51 days 

 Soy bean mixture -f 10 gm. cabbage, 



"cooked" 14-22 21-34 



Soy bean mixture + 1 gm. cabbage, 



dried 40-52° C. .32-35 39 — : two pigs alive at 



51 days 



Soy bean mixture + 1 gm. cabbage, 



dried 65-80° C . . 14-25 20-35 



1 These experiments were made possible by a grant from the Seessel Research 

 Fund. 



2 Seessel Research Fellow in Physiological Chemistry, Yale University. 



3 B. Cohen, Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol, and Med., April 17, 1918, p. 102. 



