FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 865 



they vary in kind and degree with the nature of the fat fed, and also show in 

 general a tendency toward the production of a uniform chyle fat, presumably 

 the characteristic body fat of the animal." 



It is suggested that one inirpose of the peculiar mechanism of fat abson^tion 

 is to permit such adaptive changes. The work is being continued. 



Further experiments concerning' normal and pathological digestion in 

 dogs, E. S. London et al. (Ilopiic-Seyler's Ztschr. Physiol. Chem., 81 {1912), 

 No. 5-6, pp. 369-438). — In this article are brought together ir> papers by London 

 and associates reporting details of extended and valuable investigations on 

 digestibility made with laboratory animals (dogs). For an adequate under- 

 standing of the work, the original papers should be consultetl. 



Studies of growth. — I, Growth with food containing vitamin and with 

 vitamin-free food, C. Funk iHoppc-t^i'ylcr\^ Ztschr. Phy.'^iol. Chem., 88 {1913), 

 No. 5, pp. 352-356, No 1). — The laboratory animals selected fur these experi- 

 ments were chickens, as. according to the author, they resemble man with 

 respect to the effects of vitamin-free diet. 



In general, the results showed that chickens did not grow even when the food 

 (polished rice) supplied a vitamin, and so it appears that the vitamin needed 

 for growth is not identical with the vitamin which prevents beri-beri. Accord- 

 ing to the author, recent experiments indicate the theory of a specific growth- 

 stimulating substance not in the food. The substance is presumably present in 

 a negative form and becomes active through the agency of certain glands, 

 probably the hypophysis. 



The report contains a brief reference to the effect of vitamins on mammalian 

 groups, a subject which the author is also investigating. 



Studies on pellagra. — I, The influence of the milling of maize on the 

 chemical composition and the nutritive value of maize-meal, C. Funk {Jour. 

 Physiol., Jf7 {1913), No. 4-5, pp. 3S9-392, fig. J).— The close resemblance of 

 pellagra to other deficiency diseases (beri-beri and scurvy) led the author to 

 formulate "a new hypothesis which regards pellagra as due to a lack of 

 vitamins in the food." 



In addition to the ash constituents, amino nitrogen with the corresi>onding 

 melanin nitrogen, phosphorus, fatty acids, cholesterol, and lipoid phosphorus 

 were determined in whole maize grain, highly milled meal representing 86 

 per cent of the grain, and its bran in 2 fractions, (namely, the first milling, 

 which consisted of the skin with a part of the superficial aleurone layer, and 

 the second milling, which represented the main part of the aleurone layers and 

 the germ). Specially ground, slightly milled meal deprived of the skin with a 

 little adjacent layer, which represented 97 per cent of the entire grain, and the 

 corresi3onding bran were also analyzed. Besides the analyses enumerated, the 

 different samples were tested for the color developing with the phosphotungstic- 

 phosphomolj'bdic reagent. 



"The results obtained show beyond doubt that the distribution of vitamins 

 in the grain of maize resembles closely that of rice. . . . [The analytical data 

 show] that highly milled maize is deprived of some important constituents, such 

 as phosphorus, both the total and the lipoid phosphorus and also fat. This 

 meal is also deprived to a great extent of the substance giving the color reaction. 

 On the other hand we see that the millings which are thrown away or given 

 as food for cattle are extremely rich in all constituents. From the analytical 

 data we can say that there are four distinct layers in the maize grain. First 

 the external layer, the skin, very poor in all constituents, underneath which 

 is a layer which gives the above mentioned color reaction, then a third layer 

 (included in which is the germ) extremely rich in proteins, fat, lipoids and 

 salts ; finally the fourth layer, the starch endosperm." 



