VITAMIN B (5i) 87 



that heart, Hver and brain contain vitamin B in proportions somewhat 

 similar to those in which it is found in milk, eggs and whole cereals 

 (all being compared on the basis of solid matter), whereas ordinary 

 muscle meat showed too small an amount to admit of any quantitative 

 comparison. 



Hoagland (1923) in a study of the content of antineuritic vitamin 

 (as determined by preventive tests with young pigeons) in the volun- 

 tary muscles and edible organs of the ox, sheep, and hog, obtained 

 data indicating that beef and sheep muscle are of little value as a source 

 of antineuritic vitamin, but that hog muscle is much richer in this 

 vitamin. This observation was confirmed and extended by Hoagland 

 (1924) in a further study of the antineuritic value of hog muscle and 

 has also been confirmed incidentally by Wright (1923) in a study of 

 the presence of vitamin B in frozen meat. Although no difference could 

 be noted in the vitamin B content (as tested on chickens on a mixed 

 vitamin B-free diet) of fresh and frozen meat, pork which had been 

 kept in cold storage for nine years, showed a much higher content of 

 vitamin B than lamb, mutton, or beef. 



The data reported by Hoagland on the edible organs did not lend 

 themselves to quantitative interpretation, but Osborne and Mendel 

 (1923a) reported that the livers of rats which had been kept on a 

 vitamin B-free ration contained much less vitamin B than those from 

 rats which had been on a normal diet. In the latter case the dried liver 

 proved to be almost as good a source of vitamin B as dried yeast. 

 "From the clean-cut outcome of this study the conclusion seems in- 

 evitable that when an adequate supply of vitamin B is lacking in the 

 diet the store of this factor in the liver tissue where it is ordinarily 

 found in abundance becomes largely depleted." 



Eggs. — Osborne and Mendel (1923) have stated that "judged by 

 the comparative trials on rats, the average sized hen's egg is equivalent 

 in vitamin B potency to about 150 cubic centimeters of cow's milk, or 

 a quart of milk and six or seven whole eggs on the average have an 

 approximately equivalent vitamin B value." This estimate was made 

 on the basis of the amount of dried egg yolk or a water extract of 

 tgg yolk required as the sole source of vitamin B for rats. For a 100 

 gram rat at least 0.8 gram of dried egg yolk per day (equivalent to 

 10 per cent of the food mixture) was required even to approximate 

 normal growth. 



Since even slight deterioration of an tgg is readily perceptible to 

 the senses, it is probable that eggs preserved by any method suffi- 

 ciently efficient to keep them salable will retain their original vitamins 



