HORMONES, VITAMINS, AUXIMONES 215 



subject to this disease, the symptoms of which were hemorrhages, 

 soft gums, and "rheumatism of the legs." A small amount of 

 orange juice is sufficient to prevent the disease. It is interesting 

 to note in this connection that dried peas and beans do not con- 

 tain this vitamin, while the same seeds when sprouted are very 

 efficient antiscorbutics. Matsuoka (1930) also reports that rice, 

 barley, and oats have much more vitamin C when sprouted than 

 when unsprouted. 



Vitamin D. — This is a fat soluble vitamin and for some years 

 was confused with A. It is found in the same general regions as A 

 but liver oils are especially rich in it and codliver oil contains 

 it in very large amounts. Of all the vitamins, this is the one found 

 least in plants, which are almost entirely devoid of it. However 

 they do contain the parent substance, ergosterol, which, when 

 irradiated with ultra-violet light, becomes vitamin D. This vita- 

 min controls the calcium and phosphorus metabolism of the body 

 and its absence results in the disease known as rickets, in which 

 the bones are weak and fail to develop properly. During the 

 World War, the children of Germany and Austria suffered espe- 

 cially from this malady owing to the shortage of fats in these coun- 

 tries and the fact that children are always the first to feel the effects 

 of a deficient diet. It has been learned that the ultra-violet light, 

 of sunlight is also a cure for rickets and that animals can synthesize 

 this vitamin from ergosterol in the presence of sunlight containing 

 these short rays. Likewise plants containing ergosterol, i. e., 

 provitamin D, can synthesize the vitamin when irradiated, as 

 stated above. Thus spinach leaves, which are only slightly anti- 

 rachitic, become powerfully so when irradiated with ultra-violet 

 light. Steenbock and Black (1924) showed that even synthetic 

 diets deficient in vitamin D can be endowed with antirachitic 

 powers when exposed to ultra-violet light, if they contain ergosterol. 

 Thus margarine may be given the vitamin D properties of butter 

 by irradiating it with ultra-violet light, and codliver oil is truly 

 "bottled sunlight." 



Vitamin E.— Vitamin E is also fat soluble and found in the seed 

 germs of cereals, lettuce leaves, and wheat oil in particular as well 

 as in other cereals, green vegetables, and seeds. In its absence, 

 the placenta of the female breaks down so that reproduction is 

 impossible, but since the gonads are not seriously affected, this 

 sterility can be cured. In the male, the testes degenerate, resulting 



