166 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.43 



experiments of similar nature was carried out using as the sole source of the 

 water-soluble vitamin fresh unpasteurized milk from cows fed in open pasture. 



The results of these experiments conlirm in every way those reported in the 

 previous contribution, even 15 cc. of the milk pri)ving inferior to 0.2 Rm. of 

 dried brewer's yeast as a source of water-.soluble vitamin. As a further attempt 

 to explain the remarkable results obtained by Hopkins in experiments in which 

 very small amounts of milk were used (E. S. R., 28, p. 260), the diets used 

 by him were imitated as closely as possible l>y using, as the salts, the ash 

 from dog bread and whole oats. No essential dilference in results was obtained, 

 additions of 10 cc. of fresh milk proving inefficient as a source of water- 

 soluble vitamin. 



Attention is called to the recent studies on the antiscorbutic value of cow's 

 milk, which indicate that milk is less valuable as an antiscorbutic than many of 

 the raw fruits and vegetables. 



Creation of vitamins in the intestines of rabbits receiving food sterilized 

 at high temperature, P. Portieb and L. IIandoin (Conipt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 

 [Paris], no (1920), No. 8, pp. 478-480).— In experimenting with rabbits on the 

 sterilized vitamin-free diet previously described (E. S. R., 42, p. 365) the dis- 

 covery was made that one of the rabbits through eating its own feces was 

 able to survive and even gain in weight on a vitamin-free diet which caused 

 the death of the remaining rabbits. Further experiments on the addition of 

 rabbit feces to vitamin-free diets fed to other I'abbits and to pigeons have 

 confirmed the authors' conclusion that vitamins have been synthesized in the 

 intestines of the rabbits. The theory is advanced that this synthesis has been 

 effected through the agency of intestinal bacteria. 



Accessory food factors in infant feeding {'Brit. Med. Jour., No. 3088 (1920), 

 pp. 328, 329). — This is a resume of a discussion on the influence of vitamins in 

 infant feeding which took place at a meeting of the Section for the Study of 

 Diseases of Children of the Royal Society of Medicine (England) on February 

 27, 1920. The discussion, which was opened by E. Mellanby, was confined 

 principally to rickets as a deficiency disease. ♦ 



Energy requirements of children from birth to puberty, F. G. Benedict 

 (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., 181 (1919), No. 5, pp. 101-139, figs. 29).—T\\e 

 author, from the Nutrition Research Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, 

 presents and discusses data on the basal metabolism of healthy normal chil- 

 dren from birth up to 8 days, and from 8 days to 14 years of age as determined 

 by indirect calorimetry. The respiration chambers used in both series of ex- 

 periments are described and illustrated, and the data are given in tables and 

 curves. 



The data on infants from birth up to 8 days of age were obtained at the 

 Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Lying-in Hospital, and have 

 been previously noted in part from another source (E. S. R., 42, p. 168). The 

 average heat production per day of the 94 subjects was 143 caloi'ies, the heat 

 production per kilogram of body weight 42 calories, and the heat production 

 per square meter of body surface 612 calories. The average pulse rate of a 

 newborn baby resting quietly was 112 per minute. 



In obtaining data on growing children two methods were used, (1) that of 

 studying relatively large numbers of infants of different sex, age, height, and 

 weight and comparing the average values found, and (2) that of studying the 

 same individual over a longer period of time. The data were obtained on nor- 

 mal children of wet nurses and on children in the New England Home for Little 

 Wanderers. Some 25 children were studied over periods ranging from sev- 

 eral months to three or four years. Attention was given to the selection of as 

 normal children as possible with the exclusion of all of underweight. 



