NUTRITION — PALEOGRAPHY. 401 



In attempting to ascertain the relative physiological need of water- 

 soluble and fat-soluble vitamine respectively, we have undertaken 

 experiments in which the animals have been deprived of both factors 

 simultaneously. Under these conditions restoration of nutrition will 

 under no circumstances occur unless the water-soluble factor at least 

 is supplied. The rate of decline and the length of life is not essentially 

 different in the case of animals deprived of both vitamines than in those 

 which are offered a supply of every other known essential factor except 

 the water-soluble vitamine. The relatively greater immediate impor- 

 tance of the water-soluble vitamine for nutritive well-being applies to 

 adults as well as to young animals, whereas our still unpublished experi- 

 ments on the need of the fat-soluble vitamine at different ages indicate 

 that that need is most manifest during the growing-period. 



Inasmuch as small quantities of green leaves, which are relatively 

 very poor in fats, can serve as adequate sources of fat-soluble vitamine, 

 it has become possible to construct dietaries which contain no fat other 

 than the insignificant quantity present, for example, in 0.2 to 0.4 gm. 

 dried alfalfa, which supplies the essential fat-soluble vitamine. Thus 

 for the first time it is possible to determine whether fat per se is neces- 

 sary for nutrition. Furthermore, the type of fat or fatty-acid com- 

 ponent of the diet may be modified within very wide limits inde- 

 pendently of all other essential factors in the ration. Likewise, it is 

 now possible to study the behavior of diets devoid either of all carbo- 

 hydrate or of specific types of the latter, such as starch, etc. Experi- 

 ments in this field are being conducted by us. 



PALAEOGRAPHY. 



Lowe, E. A., Oxford, England. Associate in palceography. (For previous 

 reports see Year Books 9-16.) 



The unfortunate effects of the interruption caused by the war are 

 gradually being overcome. Cooperation with scholars in other lands 

 is slowly being reestablished, and plans for publication cut short by the 

 war are once more being matured. While this is of importance to all 

 scholars, it is particularly so to one whose researches make him de- 

 pendent upon collections scattered throughout the entire continent 

 of Europe. 



The autumn and winter months were spent in planning and gathering 

 material for a comprehensive work on the Anglo-Saxon script which 

 will form the main object of investigation for the next few years. 

 The greatest difficulty confronting one to-day is the high cost of photo- 

 graphs and facsimiles which constitute the raw material of one's inves- 

 tigations. During the spring two idsits were made to the famous 

 Phillipps collection of manuscripts in Cheltenham, where all the oldest 

 manuscripts were examined and a careful study made of the best manu- 



