AmMa°y r'j9^grm'  }     Facts  Regarding  Antiscorbutics.  309 
My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Leonard  M.  Wachter  for  making  the 
special  tests  and  for  supervising  the  analytical  work,  and  to  Mr.  F. 
W.  Gilcreas  for  careful  and  painstaking  analytical  work. 
V.  Summary. —  (1)  It  is  shown  that  there  is  no  justification  for 
Gaebei's  assuming  two  molecules  of  "  water  of  crystallization  "  in 
salvarsan  made  according  to  the  directions  of  Ehrlich  and  Bertheim. 
While  Gaebel  made  his  assumption  apparently  in  ignorance  of  Ehr- 
lichias and  Bertheim's  method  published  a  year  later,  no  valid  reason 
can  be  given  for  the  general  acceptance  of  that  assumption  since 
Ehrlich  and  Bertheim  pointed  out  in  1912  that  their  preparation  con- 
tained one  molecule  of  methyl  alcohol. 
(2)  A  new  method  which  is  much  less  expensive  and  simpler 
than  Ehrlich  and  Bertheim's  method  has  been  developed  for  the 
preparation  of  the  dihydrochloride  of  arsphenamine  base  in  pure 
aqueous  solution  by  means  of  hydrochloric  acid,  being  salted  out 
similarly  as  in  the  precipitation  and  purification  of  sodium  chloride 
with  hydrochloric  acid. 
(3)  The  final  product  of  the  new  method  may  have  one  or  two 
molecules  of  water  depending  upon  the  drying.  This  seems  to  be 
the  first  time  the  dihydrochloride  of  the  arsphenamine  base  has  been 
prepared  without  organic  or  other  solvents  in  combination  or  pres- 
ent in  the  final  product. 
FURTHER  FACTS  REGARDING  ANTISCORBUTICS.1 
Scurvy,  a  disease  which  once  represented  a  menace  of  serious 
moment  to  large  numbers  of  persons  at  certain  seasons  and  under 
certain  conditions,  when  "  fresh  "  foods  were  not  available  in  suffi- 
cient variety  or  abundance,  has  returned  into  prominence  in  recent 
years.  Experience  has  shown  that  while  the  heating  of  milk  for 
infant  feeding  may  remove  undesirable  bacterial  dangers  from  this 
essential  food,  it  is  liable  at  the  same  time  to  destroy  certain  unde- 
fined properties  of  the  diet,  in  the  absence  of  which  scorbutic  symp- 
toms arise.  Furthermore,,  under  the  conditions  of  food  supply 
enforced  in  some  of  the  theaters  of  war,  the  medical  officers  have 
also  found  themselves  confronted  with  scurvy,  both  among  the 
fighting  units  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  devastated  areas. 
1  Reprinted  from  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
March  8,  1919. 
