142 THE VITAMINS 



Chick and Roscoe (1927) described the condition of rats on a diet 

 deficient in vitamin G (B2) as follows: "The body weight was usually 

 maintained, but the animals were in poor condition ; they were thin and 

 active, with rough coat and with urine slightly blood stained. Loss of 

 hair took place, and red inflamed patches of skin appeared on the nose 

 and on the backs of the fore feet, which later became edematous. There 

 was a marked conjunctivitis and in some cases the ears also became red 

 and thickened. The inflamed areas spread and often involved the hind 

 legs and whole areas around the nose and mouth; sometimes the chest 

 became bare and inflamed. The animals survived 2 to 3 weeks or longer 

 in this condition before death occurred. On post mortem examination 

 there were no definite macroscopic signs except a very unhealthy con- 

 dition of the whole alimentary tract, especially in the small intestine 

 which showed signs of inflammation with atrophy of the mucus mem- 

 brane and often contained blood-stained mucous. 



"This pellagrous condition was cured slowly but surely by the 

 addition to the diet of a small daily ration of autoclaved yeast, and at 

 the same time growth was restored. Several days, however, usually 

 elapsed before there was definite improvement. The skin lesions gradu- 

 ally healed, desquamation took place on chest and paws and round nose 

 and mouth; thickened cheesy layers peeled from the ears leaving them 

 thin and papery. In about 2 weeks the skin was healed and hair begin- 

 ning to grow." 



In a further attempt to differentiate the symptoms of a deficiency 

 of vitamins B and G from those formerly ascribed solely to vitamin B, 

 Findlay (1928) fed four groups of 10 rats, from weaning time, upon a 

 basal diet of purified casein 25, rice starch 70, and McCollum and Davis 

 salt mixture 5 parts, with 0.2 gram of cod-liver oil per rat per day. 

 Group A received no addition to this diet ; group B, 0.5 gram per rat per 

 day of yeast autoclaved at 120° C. for 5 hours ; and group C, 0.2 cubic 

 centimeter of the Kinnersley-Peters antineuritic vitamin concentrates. 



The rats in group A (strikingly deficient in all water-soluble vita- 

 mins) showed loss of appetite, body weight, and temperature, but only 

 2 showed symptoms of polyneuritis. The average duration of life was 

 34 days. In group B (deficient in heat-labile B vitamins) the symptoms 

 resembled those in group A except that paralysis was present in 6 of 

 the 10 rats. The average duration of life was ?>? days. In group C 

 (shortage of vitamin G) moderate growth occurred for from 4 to 6 

 weeks, followed by a period of slight but gradual loss in weight, during 

 which time cutaneous changes developed, preceded in some cases by a 

 sudden change in behavior, the animals becoming very irritable. The 



