3i8 Vitamines and Deficiency Diseases [June-September 



to be studied, an artificial diet ought to be used that is " complete " 

 in all constituents except the one wliose " deficiency-influence " is to 

 be investigated. 



The workers who have been concerned, thus far, with the prob- 

 lem of salt-deficiency are not yet aware of the fact that, when Vitam- 

 ine is deficient, the balance of most inorganic constituents also 

 becomes negative. Schaumann (27) performed metabolism experi- 

 ments with maize and rice preparations on rabbits and pigeons. The 

 nitrogen-balance was negative, and was followed immediately by a 

 negative phosphorus-balance. 



The work in connection with the need for certain salts was 

 chiefly performed in studies of rickets, osteomalacia, and growth of 

 young animals, and will be described in the succeeding sections. 

 Since the publication of my book, two papers of a general character 

 on this subject have appeared and can appropriately be reviewed 

 here. One of these papers, by Hornemann (33), deals with the 

 salt-content in our ordinary food, which, in the opinion of several 

 authors, is deficient especially in calcium and iron. Hornemann was 

 not able to confirm these Statements. The other paper was by 

 Heubner (34), who has already published some work on the im- 

 portance of phosphorus in the diet. In his last paper, he apparently 

 is more inclined to accept the importance of vitamines. He finds 

 that deficiency of phosphorus in the diet only gradually reduces the 

 phosphorus-content in the body. In a case of combined phosphorus- 

 and vitamine-deficiencies the quantity of lipoids in muscle was 

 abnormally low. The addition of phosphates decreased the amount 

 of phosphorus in the central nervous System, but had no influence on 

 the bones or muscles. 



Beriberi produced by a synthetic vitamine-free diet. 

 I have found (35) that pigeons develop typical beriberi, on a diet 

 consisting of casein, starch, lard, sugar and salts, as rapidly as on 

 polished rice. The onset of the Symptoms is hastened if, prior to its 

 use in this way, the casein is purified by extraction with hot alcohol 

 or water, as we see f rom the appended summary : 



Uncookf d diet Cooked diet 



Onset of beriberi Death Onset of beriberi Deatb 



37 days 40 days 27 days 31 days 



