VITAMIN G (B^) 141 



in which it was found that carotene, prepared from carrots, recrystal- 

 lized six times and fed either dissolved in cottonseed oil or as solid 

 mixed with ground meat could cure the diseased dogs when given in 

 relatively small doses. 



Underhill and Mendel prefer to treat this deficiency disease of dogs 

 as such and state definitely that they make no attempt to correlate this 

 disease with human pellagra or even to establish its identity with black- 

 tongue. 



Until the complete report of Underhill and Mendel was published 

 in 1928, Goldberger and his associates had been of the opinion that 

 the pathological conditions studied in the two laboratories were prob- 

 ably identical ; but in commenting on the divergent results obtained with 

 similar foods, Goldberger and his coworkers (1928) called attention 

 to certain dififerences in the two clinical pictures of mouth disease in 

 dogs. They wrote : "A troublesome skin rash appears to have been 

 common in the condition with which Underhill and Mendel have 

 worked. We have encountered none such in our dogs. On the other 

 hand, while we have observed a pellagra-like dermatitis of the scrotum 

 in some 40 to 50 per cent of attacks in our male dogs, there is no 

 mention of the occurrence of such an eruption in the condition studied 

 by Underhill and Mendel. Again in the condition studied by us, — 

 namely, black-tongue, — there is a definitely marked febrile stage which 

 does not seem to occur in the Chittenden-Underhill syndrome studied 

 by Underhill and Mendel. — These clinical differences seem to us of 

 such importance that, in spite of the striking clinical similarity in cer- 

 tain other respects, doubt now arises as to the identity of the Chitten- 

 den-Underhill "pellagra-like" syndrome. Until this doubt is definitely 

 resolved one way or another it would seem premature to discuss, and 

 we therefore do not attempt to discuss, the differences between the re- 

 sults reported by Underhill and Mendel and those recorded by 

 ourselves." 



In describing the pellagra-like condition of the rat resulting from 

 the deficiency of vitamin G, Goldberger and Lillie (1926) called atten- 

 tion to a characteristic abnormal condition around the eye, loss of fur, 

 a bilaterally symmetrical dermatitis, occasionally a linear fissuring or 

 ulceration at the angles of the mouth, and an ulceration of the tongue 

 and anterior part of the floor of the mouth. These symptoms resemble 

 clinically certain types of pellagra, and the authors pointed out that the 

 identity suggested by this clinical similarity is supported by the appar- 

 ent identity of the dietary conditions associated with the development 

 of the respective conditions. 



