348 THE VITAMINES 



(1250), Jahreiss (1251) and Bloch (1252) and Kaupe (1252a). The 

 poor nutrition evidently had no easily recognizable influence on the 

 intra-uterine life. The size and the weight of the new-born was not 

 far different from the normal. As regards the children of school age, 

 there are the reports of Abderhalden (1253), Pfaundler (1254) and 

 Blanton (1255), all of whom speak of a poor development of the 

 children, both in body and mind. In Belgium, the same observation 

 was made by Demoor (1256) and Duthoit (1256a), and in France 

 by Nobecourt (1257). Fronczak (1258) reported on the effect of 

 the war in Poland, and Rosenfeld (1259), in Denmark and Switzer- 

 land. 



An exact composition of the diet (per week) was described by 

 Berg (1260) in 1917 in Dresden: 



grams grams 



Whole rye bread 1500 Pork 126 



Wheat bread 350 Butter or margarine 35 



Potatoes 630 Eggs 35 



Kohlrabi 3500 Cheese 14 



Grits 14 Fruits and vegetables 400 



Sugar 21 Coffee substitute 14 



This gave 'a daily portion of 33 grams protein (of which 4 grams 

 were of animal origin), 10 grams fat and 1217 calories. We see from 

 this that the food was lacking in protein, fat, calories, vitamines A 

 and (sometimes apparently) C. Many of the observed dietary dis- 

 turbances in Germany were explained by a poverty of fat, and Thorns 

 (1261) laid great stress on this dietary component. It is quite true 

 that a poverty of fat markedly reduces the caloric value of a diet, 

 but this is frequently confused with a lack of vitamine A. For it is 

 possible to live very well without fat, as has been shown again by 

 Osborne and Mendel (1262) on rats. They demonstrated that on a 

 fat-free mixture, in the presence of vitamine A, rats may grow 

 splendidly and consume double the quantity of food, as compared 

 with the usual dietary mixture. Growth in the first stage proceeds 

 much more favorably, following a greater protein intake. Drum- 

 mond (1262a) obtained the same results as Osborne and Mendel on 

 fat-free food mixtures. These results find their replica in experi- 

 ments on children and adults, which we have already described 



If the lack of fat was not responsible for the poor nutrition in 

 Germany, how did nutritive disturbances develop? In a series of 



