VITAMINS — HALLIBURTON. 245 



may in the future be found to be deficiency diseases. An obvious 

 state of malnutrition in an infant may pass away, and yet it may 

 leave its mark behind it and cause far-reaching results later in life. 

 Take, for example, that curse of modern days, dental caries. Already, 

 as Mrs. Mellanby has shown, there are signs that this is just such a 

 condition, and that its cause is probably a deficiency (earlier in life) 

 of a proper vitamin supply. Happily, many workers are taking up 

 the subject and exploring the numerous by-paths that the main idea 

 has opened up. 



Important work of this nature is that by Lieut. Col. R. McCarrison, 

 and his paper has appeared in last year's January number of the 

 Indian Journal of Medical Research. The disease in particular 

 which he dealt with is beriberi, a complaint which can be produced 

 easily in birds by withholding water-soluble B, or, in other words, 

 by feeding upon highty milled cereal grains. So far, the nervous 

 sj-mptoms of this disease, spoken of as "neuritic," have attracted 

 most attention, but McCarrison has shown that the condition is more 

 than a functional and degenerative condition of the nervous system ; 

 that it is one in which practically every organ and tissue of the body 

 is involved. The organs of digestion and assimilation are particu- 

 larty affected, and thus many of the symptoms are due to the chronic 

 inanition so produced. The lowered vitality then renders the body 

 an easy prey to infectious and parasitic agents, and thus other symp- 

 toms become explicable. Among the many remarkable results 

 chronicled is that while the adrenals hypertrophy, there are other 

 organs which atrophy, and in order of severity these are the thymus, 

 testes, spleen, ovary, pancreas, heart, liver, kidneys, stomach, thy- 

 roid, and the brain least. It therefore appears that the organs 

 which atrophy provide a reserve of vitamins for use in periods of 

 stress, but that the reserve is soon exhausted. 



One disease, namely, pellagra, I have not mentioned, and it is of 

 particular interest to Italians. Conflicting views are at present held 

 as to its causation, many regarding it as an infectious ailment, 

 whereas others look upon it as a deficiency disease. It is the condi- 

 tion which follows the effects of maize feeding. The maize protein, 

 as is well known, is an imperfect one, and lacks many of the im- 

 portant amino-acids which are needed for tissue building. It may 

 be that the deficiency is in the protein. Still it is quite possible that 

 here also we may have to deal with the lack of a specific vitamin. 

 This view at any rate has been taken by Rondoni, who has published 

 a recent paper in the British Medical Journal, 1919, I, page 542, in 

 which he compares his experimental results on guinea pigs with 

 those of McCarrison on birds. Here also there is an enlargement of 

 the adrenals and an atrophy of certain other organs. Rondoni points 



