528 



VERTEBRATE LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 



Figure 26.5. A child with rickets. (Cooper, Uarber and Mitchell: Nutrition in 

 Hcahli and Disease for Nurses, J. B. Lippincott Co.) 



vitamins needed by man and their characteristics is presented in 



Table 4. 



Certain vitamin deficiencies are the cause of diseases that have long 

 plagued man. Beriberi has been common tor centuries among Orientals 

 and other peoples who subsist largely on polished rice. Rice husks, 

 which contain thiamine, prevent the disease when added to the diet. 

 Pellagra used to be common in our southern states, tor corn meal, 

 which tormerly made up such a large part ot the diet, is very low in 

 niacin. Scurvy was long the scourge ot sailors, explorers and others who 

 could not get tresh truits and vegetables and the ascorbic acid they 

 contain. Many Civil War prisoners such as the ones in Andersonville 

 prison were victims of this disease. Captain James Cook was among 

 tlie first to notice that feeding his crew such unusual foods (to sailors 

 at least) as sauerkraut reduced the incidence of scurvy. He reported 

 his findings to the Royal Society in 1776, and about two decades later, 

 when more was known about the disease, the British Navy periodically 

 enforced a ration ot lime juice on members of all crews. British sailors 

 have been called "limeys" ever since. Rickets is a disease ot children 

 who do not receive sufficient vitamin D; it is characterized by marked 

 malformation of the skeleton (Fig. 26.5). 



224. Respiratory Membranes 



Cellular respiration is an oxidative process in which most of the 

 energy in the absorbed food molecules is released and made available 



