344 THE VITAMINS 



It was noted that while some of the animals showed an initial flaccid 

 paralysis — a dragging of the legs — this was always succeeded by a 

 spastic condition. Evans and Burr stated that "a more accurate sympto- 

 matic and full pathologic-anatomical study of the singular and obscure 

 condition of these animals is under way," but no report of this study 

 had come to our notice at time of writing. 



Meantime, Goettsch (1930) announced in a preliminary report that 

 in guinea pigs and rabbits on a diet free from vitamin E but adequate 

 in other respects (Waddell and Steenbock) changes apparently specific 

 for vitamin E deficiency take place in the voluntary muscles. "The 

 muscles of the thigh and abdomen were particularly involved. They 

 appeared atrophied and pale and had a yellowish color, quite different 

 from those of the normal controls. Sometimes they were gritty looking 

 and streaked as though calcified or infiltrated with fat. In two cases 

 the thigh muscles were markedly hemorrhagic. The muscles seemed to 

 have lost their irritability." 



This report was accompanied by a further description by Pappen- 

 heimer (1930) of the pathological changes observed in the affected 

 muscles. The primary alteration was found to be a waxy or hyaline 

 necrosis of the fibers, followed by a great proliferation of the muscle 

 nuclei and in later stages by active regeneration of the muscle cells, 

 accompanied by a variable amount of interstitial fibrosis. Histological 

 studies of other tissues than the skeletal muscle showed no significant 

 change. The pathological condition is summarized as a universal dys- 

 trophy of the entire voluntary muscular system. The significance of 

 these findings awaits further study. 



It has been emphasized in the previous chapters that it is ambiguous 

 to apply the term growth-promoting to any one vitamin, since the 

 absence of any of them interferes sooner or later with growth processes. 

 According to Evans (1928c) the time at which vitamin E affects the 

 growth of rats is after sexual maturity. During the first 90 days of life 

 significant differences may not occur in the growth of the rat on diets 

 rich in or free from vitamin E, but the improvement is evident after 

 the eighth month and marked after one year. The favorable effect on 

 the later growth of male rats was not altered by removal of the testes, 

 thus eliminating the possibility that the favorable effect upon growth 

 may be brought about indirectly through the action of vitamin E upon 

 the sex glands. 



While vitamin E thus appears to be one of the essential food con- 

 stituents, it is probably not of as great importance from a practical 

 point of view as the other vitamins on account of its wide distribution 



