RESULTS OF STUDIES ON VITAMINES AND DE- 

 FICIENCY DISEASES, DURING THE YEARS 



1913-1915* 



CASIMIR FUNK 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



I. Introduction 304 



IL Beriberi 308 



III. Scurvy and infantile scurvy (milk problem) 323 



IV. Relationship between beriberi, scurvy and Pellagra 326 



V. Pellagra 327 



VI. Sprue 333 



VII. Rickets 334 



VIII. Chemistry of cod-liver oil 336 



IX. Osteomalacia, spasmophilia, eclampsia 33^ 



X. Chemistry and physiology of growth 339 



XL Growth in plants 348 



XII. Influence of diet on the growth of tumors 34^ 



XIII. Concluding general considerations 35^ 



XIV. Bibliography 354 



I. INTRODUCTION 



In my book on vitamines and deficiency diseases, which appeared 

 early in 1914, and in several other articles püblished about the same 

 time, these subjects were reviewed very extensively. The present ar- 

 ticle is written with the purpose of reviewing the progress of the 

 work in this field since the pubHcation of my book. For the benefit 

 of any who may not be famihar with this particular branch of 

 science, however, the chief data obtained prior to 1914 will also be 

 briefly summarized. 



The subject of vitamines owes its existence to results of the 



study of beriberi, a disease occurring in oriental countries where rice 



is used as staple food. This disease was first regarded either as an 



* An abstract of this review constituted an address by the author, at the 22nd 

 meeting of the Columbia University Biochemical Association, at the Columbia 

 Medical School, April 9, 1915 (Biochem. Bull., 1915, iv, p. 266). A review of 

 further developments in the study of vitamines, since April, 1915, will be püb- 

 lished by the author in a late issue of Volume V of the Biochemical Bulletin. 



304 



