THE REACTION TO FOOD 335 



On the other, hand, so simple a mixture as 70 or 75 per cent 

 of rolled oats, and 30 or 35 per cent of a flour prepared 

 from a broad leaf such as clover, alfalfa, turnip, celery, etc., 

 induced very good growth, some reproduction, rearing of 

 young, and the repetition of the hfe cycle in the family 

 restricted to this diet. 



Little rats have grown from soon after weaning to maturity 

 with capabihty to reproduce when fed nothing but hard boiled 

 egg yolk. It is evident that neither monotony nor restriction 

 as to source is the determining factor, but rather the unique 

 constitution of the diet in a chemical sense which determines 

 its quaHty. 



The most significant investigation in nutrition leading 

 to the modern era of research was that of Eijkman, who in 

 1897 at Batavia, Java, discovered that fowls fed solely 

 upon pohshed rice develop a disease characterized by 

 multiple neuritis which was recognized as the analogue in 

 the bird of a disease long common among the rice eaters 

 of the Orient under the name beri-beri. Eijkman showed 

 that various extracts of plant products including rice 

 pohshings, produced a spectacular cure in birds which were 

 within a few hours of death. He demonstrated that the dose 

 of active material necessary to produce such a cure was 

 extraordinarily small. His experiments attracted httle 

 attention for a decade, but were discovered and repeated 

 about 1910 by Funk, who confirmed Eijkman's results 

 and coined the term "vitamine" to designate the active 

 principle, a lack of which causes the development of 

 polyneuritis in both man and animals. In 19 12 the first 

 of the fat-soluble vitamins, now known as vitamin a, was 

 discovered in butter fat. Up to this time it had been 

 accepted that all foods have essentially the same fuel or 

 calorific value and approximately the same digestibility, 

 hence the same nutritional value. It was clearly demon- 

 strated by McCoIlum and Davis, and by Osborne and 

 Mendel, that butter fat, egg yolk fat, and cod liver oil had 

 growth and health-promoting properties not possessed by 

 such foods as lard, olive oil, almond oil, etc. In 19 12 Hoist 

 and Froelich of Norway conducted experiments with guinea 

 pigs in which they produced experimentally the lesions 



