474. Experimental Scurvy. II 
tion. This being true, then any grain as barley, wheat, corn 
(maize), etc., when fed with an abundant supply of milk should 
produce seurvy in the guinea pig. To test this point whole corn, 
wheat, and barley were ground, and the ground grains fed to 
guinea pigs together with all the milk they would consume. 
Charts 9, 10, and 11 show the results of these experiments. It 
will be noted that these curves show decidedly better growth than 
do the curves of guinea pigs fed on whole oats and milk (see Chart 
12). The animals were in better condition and did not show 
symptoms of scurvy as soon as did oat-fed animals. The mor- 
tality of the animals receiving corn, wheat, or barley was very 
high, and postmortem examination of the animals that died 
showed the characteristic lesions of scurvy in all but a few cases. 
One animal on the barley and milk ration was still alive at the 
end of 18 weeks. This animal shows no evidence of having 
scurvy at the present time. From the 4th week to the 8th week, 
however, it was in very poor condition and showed signs of 
scurvy, but after the 8th week it slowly improved and at the 
present time is in excellent condition. This ability of an animal 
that has scurvy to slowly recover without the administration of 
any remedial agents has been observed at various times. It 
occurs on different rations and is probably due to unusual vigor 
and resistance of the individual. 
Two animals are still alive on the corn and milk ration, but 
although they are gaining in weight they both have swollen knee 
joints and are very sensitive. The coats are rough and the ani- 
mals appear to be poorly nourished, in spite of the fact that they 
are gaining in weight. This ability of a scurvy animal to gain in 
weight has been noted by Jackson and Moore (5) in their work 
with guinea pigs. 
Two animals are alive on the wheat and milk diet at the time 
of writing this paper. One of these, No. 2, shows no symptoms 
of scurvy although it has been losing weight for the past 4 weeks. 
The other animal, No. 4, has swollen knee joints, walks with 
considerable difficulty, and shows signs of severe scurvy. _ 
The lower efficiency of rolled oats and whole oats as compared 
with other grains in the nutrition of the animal is due in part 
to the peculiar property of oats to produce very pasty feces 
which are difficult to eliminate. This lower efficiency of the oat 
