ACCESSORY FOOD-FACTORS 43 



dog; it is, however, well known that rickets is pro- 

 duced in monkeys, and the death rate from this cause 

 at, e.g., Zoological Gardens, is reported as high. 



As far as war problems are concerned, we are chiefly 

 occupied with the anti-beriberi and anti-scurvy vita- 

 mines, for the results of experimental work on growth 

 factors have been insufficiently applied to human needs. 

 Though there is every probability that the number of 

 cases of rickets is increased by war conditions, 1 still 

 this state of affairs is only an intensification of a con- 

 dition which is sufficiently acute in peace time, and 

 which only education and money can alleviate. 



The Accessory Food Factor which Prevents 

 Rickets. It is now fairly clear that rickets is not 

 the result of a deficiency of the diet in fat alone, as 

 was long thought, but of some accessory factor, 

 generally found in close association with animal fat. 

 Dr. Mellanby and Miss Higginton, working for the 

 Medical Research Committee, have found that a suffi- 

 ciency of cow's milk, butter, or cod-liver oil will keep 

 dogs free from rickets, but that linseed oil is power- 

 less to do so. Fat as fat is therefore useless, it is 

 some substance associated with the fat which has the 

 value. 



At a time of fat shortage like the present, therefore, 

 it can well be seen that butter, milk, and cream should 

 be specially kept for children, while the vegetable fats 

 of less certain virtue should be given to adults; the 

 time is not ripe for a more definite pronouncement 

 than this. 



The Accessory Food-factor which prevents Beri- 

 beri. Beriberi is generally spoken of as a tropical 

 disease; it is popularly very generally confounded 



i See Infant Welfare in Germany during the War, pp. 7-8. Report pre- 

 pared in the Intelligence Department of Local Government Board. H. M. 

 Stationery Office, 1918. 



