762 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.41 



On the diets containing lactalbumin, gliadin, ovovitellin, pure or crude casein, 

 or meat residue, nearly all the rats lost from 30 to 40 per cent or more In 

 weight, and all but one died within 50 days unless water-soluble vitamin was 

 supplied. The prompt recovery on the administration of yeast demonstrated 

 a lack of water-soluble vitamin in the proteins employed. On diets containing 

 crude edestin or cottonseetl globulin rats were maintained for three months 

 without notable change in body weiglit, and when the amount of protein was 

 doubled all but one gained weight fairly rapidly. Evidence of a decided laclj 

 of water-soluble vitamin in edestin was obtained only after the edestin had 

 been purified by seven reerystallizations. The suggestion is made that the per- 

 sistence with which the water-soluble vitamin is retained by edestin may be 

 due to a chemical combination therewith, and that in this respect the vitamin 

 resembles acids which combine with edestin to form salts. Similarly the ease 

 with which the vitamin is separated from casein and from ovovitellin may be 

 due to the acid character of these proteins, which would render them incapable 

 of entering into chemical combination with the vitamin, provided the latter has 

 acid properties. The absence of the vitamin from preparations of gliadin and 

 of meat residue is ascribed to the small amounts of the vitamin in the original 

 substances. 



In conclusion, the authors emphasize the importance of proving a diet to 

 be free from the water-soluble vitamin before considering it suitable for use in 

 feeding experiments designed to show the proportion of this vitamin in any 

 other element of food. 



Nutritive factors in plant tissues. — II, The distribution of water-soluble 

 vitamin, T. B. Osborne and L. B. IVIendfx {Jmtr. Biol. Cheni.. 39 {1919), No. 1, 

 pp. 29-34, flfis- 2)- — 111 continuation of previous work (E. S. R., 39, p. 665), a 

 preliminary report is given of the distribution of the water-soluble vitamin in 

 plant tissues. To the list of plant tissues in which it has previously been 

 found, the authors now add the bulb of the onion, the root of the turnip, the 

 leaves, stems, and root of the beet, and the fruit of the tomato. 



To permit more accurate comparison of the water-soluble \itamin content of 

 natural foods, a procedure has been adopted which consists in feeding each day 

 small known quantities of the vegetable product under investigation apart 

 from the basal ration which is fed ad libitum. This method has been applied to 

 a study of the effect of the maturity of plants upon their vitamin content, and 

 it has been found that hay made from immature plants of clover, alfalfa, and 

 timothy is much more efficient as a source of water-soluble vitamin than the 

 hay prepared from mature specimens. The fact that such a difference exists is 

 thought to have importance in feeding young animals and dairy cows, and the 

 possible advisability is suggested of using hay made from immature clover or 

 alfalfa to replace part, at least, of the milk fed to young stock and to replace 

 entirely the hay ordinarily used for dairy cows. 



Accessory factors in food, F. G. Hopkins and H. Chick (Lancet [London], 

 1919, II, No. 1, pp. 28, 29). — This memorandum has been issued by the com- 

 mittee on accessory food factors appointed by the Medical Research Committee 

 and the Lister Institute (England) for the guidance of those engaged in the 

 administration of food relief to famine-stricken districts. The accessory food 

 factors are classified as the antlneuritic or antlberiberi factor identified with 

 the water-soluble B growth factor, the fat-soluble A growth factor or anti- 

 rachitic factor, and the antiscorbutic factor. A brief description is given of 

 the distribution and properties of these factors, with an accompanying table 

 showing their distribution in the common foodstuffs, followed by a discussion of 

 the practical application of the facts presented to the prevention of diseases. 



