388 THE VITAMINES 



influences the blood sugar content not only of diabetics but also of 

 normal subjects. This was reported on by Jacobson (1549), v. 

 Moraczewski (1550) and McCay, Banerjee, Ghostal, Dutta and Ray 

 (1551). The latter described conditions in India which develop 

 there on a diet rich in carbohydrates, and which gradually lead to 

 diabetes. These conditions strongly resemble experimental gly- 

 cosuria, which we have already described in pigeon beriberi. 



Considering the question of therapy in diabetes, we see the pos- 

 sibility of producing an avitaminosis by adhering too closely to a 

 strict diet. Burger (I.e. 1452) and Schittenhelm and Schlecht (I.e. 

 1443) state that in diabetes, on an oatmeal diet, they observed 

 edema resembling hunger edema. A similar observation was made 

 by Wilder and Beeler (155 la). An editorial in the Journal of the 

 American Medical Association (1552) warned of the dangers of a 

 decrease in the protein of the diet with a simultaneous increase of the 

 carbohydrates, a regime which produces real diabetics from latent 

 cases. In addition, there is the actual danger of an avitaminosis. 

 As regards the starvation therapy in diabetes, we have asked our- 

 selves the question as to whether the organism, in starvation, suffers 

 first from a lack of vitamine or of the usual dietary constituents. 

 The author and Dubin (unpublished data) undertook to test this 

 question experimentally. However, no difference was noticeable in 

 the time of survival between the pigeons receiving either vitamine A 

 or B, or both, and those that were starving. In addition, no beriberi 

 was observed in the starving pigeons. 



CANCER 



Cancer is a disease of excessive nutrition, although McCarrison 

 (1553) believed that under certain conditions, a lack of vitamines 

 may lead to cancer of the stomach. He saw one such case among 

 monkeys. That this disease is associated with luxury consumption, 

 is best recognizable from the statistical figures compiled during the 

 war and from insurance statistics. Hoffmann (1554) said that cancer 

 occurs more frequently in cities than in the country, and more among 

 the well-to-do than among poor people, the reverse being the case in 

 tuberculosis. 



The cancer question is of interest from two points of view, first, the 

 possibility of a chemical substance as an etiological factor and second, 



