stefansson-wrangel-09-40-009

Givens (Scurvy). --------------

April 30th, 1920.

Dear Mr. Givens:

My attention has recently been called to your interesting letter published in "Science" for March 12th, 1920, relative to the antiscorbutic property of dehydrated meat. I should be greatly interested to keep in touch with you in your investigations on this and similar subjects and you may count on me for any information that I can give you.

I have just returned from London where I had some very interesting talks on this subject with Dr. Martin, the director of the Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine, who, as you know, is one of the leading authorities on scurvy in Great Britain.

Some of the points that interested me in your letter but are not quite clear are the following:

In the first paragraph you refer to "whole milk" as if it had no antiscorbutic properties. What kind of whole milk do you mean? Is it fresh milk that has never been heated or is it some commericial product, possibly powdered? I have always supposed that fresh milk had a good deal of antiscorbutic value and that this was equal or greater if the milk were sour.

Farther down in the same paragraph you speak of certain dehydrated products, saying they "retain some of their original content of antiscorbutic vitamine." What interests me here and what seems to me not to be sufficiently dwelt on in most investigations is just how long do they retain these antiscorbutic properties. I find that some investigations of both dessicated and tinned products have been made without any attempt to ascertain the age of the product. In other cases experiments have been made on perfectly fresh products specially put up in the laboratory under the supervision of the investigator himself, and he has later on announced conclusions applying to canned preparations of the vegetable in question as obtainable in the market. It seems to me at least open to question whether demonstrating some antiscorbutic power in tomatoes which you have yourself canned is very significant when applied to the commercial product, which when purchased of a ship's outfitter, for instance, may easily be half a dozen years old.

Of course, I have nothing to say against the scientific

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value of experiment a of food under any particular condition. But the practical value would be greatest if your conclusions could be directly applied to food products that are for sale on the market and have no label indicating their age.

In thinking this letter over, I find that I have used the word "you" in such a way that it may be thought I am applying it especially to you and your colleague. That is not my meaning. I intend these for general comments on researches as to the antiscorbutic value of food.

Dr. Martin told me of some very interesting experiments on human subjects conducted by an acquaintance of his at Dr. Martin's suggestion among soldiers, prisoners and others in north Russia, where scurvy was prevalent.

Although I am addressing this letter to you individually because your name appears first, it is equally meant for your colleague, Mr. McClugage.

Mr. Maurice H. Givens, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.