Three different vitamins are described by investigators:

I have spoken only of the last; the first hardly needs consideration here. The anti-neuritic vitamin is more easily preserved and supplied than the anti-scorbutic, and for the prevention of beri-beri the following foods were added to the ship’s dietary: Rice (containing the germ), wholemeal flour, oatmeal, dried eggs, dried peas, beans and lentils, and marmite, a yeast product, for adding occasionally to soups and stews. For sledging conditions: Marmite, ½ oz. per man per day (to be placed in the “hoosh”).

In preparing the supplies we carried a large variety of foods, for it is of importance to prevent monotony in meals. This Shackleton always realized. The following from the “The Worst Journey in the World” is interesting: “Meanwhile Shackleton’s hut was very pleasant at this time of year ... and the food. Truly Shackleton’s men must have fed like turkey cocks for all the delicacies here....” The addition of a few delicacies adds little to the cost of an expedition, but means a great deal to those engaged in it. I think it would surprise most people to know what can be done in the way of supplying wholesome and attractive foods in a preserved state by modern plants. There should be one standard of quality only: the best, and goods should be obtained only from firms of the highest repute.

The elimination of poisons from the system is aimed at firstly, by thorough preliminary examination, as already indicated, to avoid sources of poisons in the body itself, e.g., the mouth, teeth, throat, and nasal passages with their accessory sinuses, and, secondly, by ensuring that no bad or “high” food shall be eaten.

Constipation in any of the personnel is a factor which must be avoided, and it is necessary that all hands be impressed with the importance of a regular daily movement of the bowels and a complete evacuation at each act. Defæcation is apt to be hurried or neglected in bad weather at sea and in cold and snowy weather ashore. Polar travel does not admit of comfortable latrines, and this often means exposure to wind and drift, for the daily functions are carried out in the ordinary way. This exposure of the body, though exceedingly uncomfortable, leads to no lasting harm, for, as will be shown, it is in the comparatively bloodless extremities that frost-bite usually occurs. Constipation is followed by absorption of poison from the bowel, and so must be especially avoided if the risk of scurvy is imminent. Its correction in bad weather must be carefully carried out, for the cruelty of drastic purgation under these conditions can be imagined.

In future those responsible must make themselves au fait with the steps necessary to prevent the onset of deficiency diseases. Scurvy caused the failure of Lord Anson’s expedition; in Captain Cook’s brilliant voyages it was absent. Compare the bad conditions in the Alert and Discovery in 1875 with the earlier voyages of Sir Robert McClure in the Investigator. Always success and failure have depended upon its presence or absence. In more recent times, take the case of Captain Scott and the gallant companions who met their fate so bravely. Mr. Cherry Garrard attributes their failure to return from the Pole to several conditions, one of them a deficiency in the calorific value of their ration. “It is a fact that the polar party failed to make their distance because they became weak, although they were eating their full ration or more than their full ration of food, save for a few days when they were short on the way down the Beardmore Glacier....” He goes on to say: “The Summit (S) ration consisted of biscuits 16, pemmican 12, butter 2, cocoa 0.57, sugar 3, and tea 0.86 oz.; total, 34.43 oz. daily per man.”

I do not know the composition of the pemmican, but this ration should yield nearly 5,000 calories. I should consider it to be devoid of anti-scorbutic and anti-neuritic vitamin, and, indeed, the whole medical history of that return journey shows that these men were fighting an unknown enemy greater than all the forces of the Antarctic. In a footnote Mr. Cherry Garrard mentions the possibility of vitamin deficiency, and it is noteworthy that Dr. Atkinson added fresh onions (brought by the ship) to the next year’s ration. I think there can be no doubt that there was vitamin deficiency, and it all goes to emphasize my point of the absolute necessity for careful medical organization to prevent these preventable conditions, for it is my firm belief that the cause of Scott’s death lay not in the Antarctic, but in his preparations in England prior to setting out. The knowledge of the subject necessary to enable him to prepare a sledging ration containing active vitamin was not then available.

As there are two definite causes of fully developed scurvy, viz. the lack of “vitamin” and the addition of a poison, so the symptoms and signs divide themselves into two stages: