PREFACE 



importance, and, I must confess, an urge to systematise the hetero- 

 geneous, rather untidy, array of data, so that others, not so intimately 

 acquainted with the field, may have an over-all picture of what the 

 vitamin B complex is and why it is of such significance in human and 

 animal nutrition and in the economy of micro-organisms. 



The task has not been an easy one, but I hope I have succeeded 

 in presenting a coherent story in a form that others will find useful. 

 I have tried to include all that is essential, and exclude all that is non- 

 essential, but I am certain that my choice will not always meet with 

 approval, especially as the subject is of interest to such a large number 

 of specialists in so many branches of pure and applied science — 

 chemists, zoologists, physiologists and bacteriologists, clinicians, 

 nutritionists and agriculturists. Obviously it is impossible to give 

 in one book all the information that workers in these diverse fields 

 require, and it is to assist those who wish to have more detailed 

 information in any particular field that I have included, at the end of 

 each section, references to the original literature. 



The story of the vitamin B complex, as will be evident in the pages 

 that follow, has been compiled from many sources, some having no 

 obvious connection with human nutrition. It would not be sur- 

 prising, in view of the paramount importance of these substances in 

 the metabolism of all living organisms, if further fascinating dis- 

 coveries remain to be made, with consequences of perhaps even 

 greater significance than any we have so far witnessed. I hope that 

 this monograph may help to sustain the interest of research workers 

 in these important substances. 



F. A. ROBINSON. 



Waldrons ", 



Tewin Wood, Herts. 



VI 



