676 



VII. VITAMINS A 



noted that wide variations in the content of vitamin A obtained. Ling 

 cod liver oil (Molva vulgaris), on the other hand, may be even more potent 

 in vitamin A than is halibut liver oil.''^ The wide variation in vitamin A 

 content in different fish liver oils is illustrated by the recent calculation of 

 the vitamin A content of fish liver oils, expressed as per cent of the oil, which 

 has been made by Jewell, Mead, and Phipps.-^* Whereas cod liver oil 

 (Gadus morrhua) contains only 0.01% of vitamin A, the conger eel (Conger 

 vulgaris) has 20 times the amount (0.2%), the school shark (Galeorhinus 

 australis) 70 times the quantity (0.7%), the halibut (Hippoglossus hippo- 

 glossus) 170 times the concentration (1.7%), and the tunny, Thunnus thy- 

 nus {vulgaris), 470 times the figure for the cod (4.7%). The vitamin A con- 

 tents of 25 varieties of Chinese fishes have been reported by Mar.^^ Basu 

 and Rai Sircar^^ studied the vitamin A distribution in the livers of a num- 

 ber of Bengal fishes. 



TABLE 2 

 Distribution of Vitamin A in Various Fish Liver Oils" 



" H. R. Rosenberg, Chemistry and Physiology of the Vitamins, Interscience, New York, 

 1942. 



53 L. B. Pett, M. Lipkind, and G. A. Le Page, Nature, 144, 634 (1939). 



" W. Jewell, T. H. Mead, and J. W. Phipps, J. Soc. Chem. Ind., 58, 56-64T (1939). 



'■'> P. G. Mar, Chinese J. Physiol, 16, 67-72 (1941). 



5« K. P. Basu and B. C. Rai Sircar, Indian J. Med. Research, 27, 721-729 (1940). 



