Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.  1919. 
Antiscorbutics. 
619 
tained  from  lemons  and  sweet  limes,  not  from  the  West  Indian  sour 
limes.  With  the  change  to  the  sour  limes  has  come  a  failure  in  anti- 
scorbutic potency  that  was  difficult  to  understand  until  it  was  demon- 
strated recently  by  experimental  tests  on  animals  that  the  sour  lime 
of  the  West  Indies  (Citrus  medica-acida)  happens  to  have  only  one 
quarter  of  the  antiscorbutic  value  of  the  lemon  (Citrus  medica- 
limonwm)  '.  Lemon  juice  is  easily  available  for  the  treatment  of  in- 
fantile scorbutus.  Harden  and  Zilva6  have  further  demonstrated 
that  after  removal  of  the  free  citric  acid  and  other  acids  from  lemon 
juice,  the  residue  also  retains  its  antiscorbutic  activity;  and  in 
collaboration  with  Still7  these  investigators  have,  for  the  first  time, 
clinically  employed  with  success  this  antiscorbutic  factor  separated 
from  the  greater  part  of  the  inactive  components  in  combination 
with  which  it  occurs.  The  vitamin-containing  product  could  be  ad- 
ministered in  large  dosage  after  the  refinement  and  the  exclusion  of 
extraneous  substances.  In  fact,  the  lemon  product  was  given  in 
concentration  at  least  double — in  one  case  seven  times — as  strong  as 
the  form  in  which  it  occurs  naturally  in  the  foodstuff  (lemon) 
from  which  it  was  obtained.  The  treatment  was  thus,  so  to  speak, 
"  intensive,"  reminding  one  of  the  seemingly  potent  therapeutic  pro- 
cedure of  Hess,  who  introduced  orange  juice  directly  into  the  cir- 
culation of  scorbutic  infants. 
There  are  indications  that  the  potent  fruit  juices  can  be  suitably 
preserved  for  clinical  use.  This  is  a  matter  of  no  little  consequence 
in  conserving  products  that  do  not  come  into  the  market  with  uni- 
form frequency  and  at  reasonable  prices  throughout  the  year. 
Harden  and  Robinson8  have  reported  from  London  that  the  anti- 
scorbutic principle  in  orange  juice  is  not  volatilized  when  the  juice 
is  distilled  at  400  C.  under  reduced  pressure.  By  evaporation  of 
orange  juice  at  400  C.  under  reduced  pressure,  it  is  possible  to  ob- 
tain a  solid  residue  which  possesses  in  a  very  high  degree  the  anti- 
scorbutic value  of  the  fresh  juice.  This  value  is  not  appreciably 
diminished  when  the  substance  is  kept  in  a  dry  atmosphere  at  room 
temperature  during  six  months.    The  prolonged  heating  to  which 
6  Harden,  A.,  and  Zilva,  S.  S. :  The  Antiscorbutic  Factor  in  Lemon  Juice, 
Biochem.  J.,  12:  259  (Oct.),  1918. 
7  Harden,  A.,  Zilva,  S.  S.,  and  Still,  G.  F. :  Infantile  Scurvy :  The  Anti- 
scorbutic Factor  of  Lemon  Juice  in  Treatment,  Lancet,  1 :  17  (Jan.  4),  1919. 
8  Harden,  A.,  and  Robinson,  R. :  The  Antiscorbutic  Properties  of  Concen- 
trated Fruit  Juices,  /.  Royal  Army  Med.  Corps,  Jan.,  1919. 
