286 ANlsrUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1942 



In a study extending from 1929 to 1934 Dam and his associates de- 

 scribed a deficiency disease of chicks which was characterized by a 

 marked tendency to bleed. It was shown that the clotting time of 

 the blood of chicks suffering from this disease was greatly prolonged. 

 Dam found that hog liver contained a fat-soluble factor which would 

 correct this condition. He termed it vitamin K. Subsequently Alm- 

 quist obtained highly potent concentrates from alfalfa. Later Doisy 

 and his associates succeeded in isolating what they termed vitamin 

 Ki in alfalfa and Kg in fish meal. The structure of the more important 

 of these, vitamin Ki, was found to be 2-methyl-3-phytylnaphthoqui 

 none. Doisy, Fieser, and Almquist synthesized it in 1939. Subse- 

 quently it was announced by Fernholz and Ansbacher that 2-methyl- 

 naphthoquinone was as active as, or possibly more active than, vitamin 

 Ki or vitamin Kg. The manufacture of vitamin Ki for use in medicine 

 is not great. Larger amounts of the cheaper 2-methylnaphthoquinone 

 are used. 



In a study dating back to 1922 Evans and his collaborators have 

 found that a dietary constituent is necessary for normal reproduction 

 of rats. It was found that wheat germ oil was a rich source of this 

 factor which has been termed vitamin E or tocopherol. It was pres- 

 ent in other natural oils also. Concentrates of these oils were made 

 and crystalline derivatives of vitamin E, or a-tocopherol as it has 

 become known, were prepared. Subsequently other tocopherols — 

 namely, ^- and y-tocopherols — were found which differ from a-toco- 

 pherol in the number of methyl groups contained about the chromane 

 nucleus of the molecule. The structure of a-tocopherol was deter- 

 mined by Fernholz in our laboratory and the synthesis was accom- 

 plished by Karrer in Switzerland, Todd in England, and Lee I. Smith 

 of the University of Minnesota in this country. 



The importance of cooperation among academic laboratories, re- 

 search institutes, and industry, and the need for a friendly under- 

 standing by each of the needs, goals, and problems of the others 

 cannot be emphasized too much. The growth of modern industry is 

 almost entirely dependent upon the great advances in pure science. 

 Industry too has contributed much. It has made the findings of the 

 pure scientist available to society. Discoveries in pure science are 

 apt to become and remain sterile from the point of view of society 

 unless industry makes use of them in some way. Examples of the 

 great developments in industry based upon pure science are found in 

 the great electrical industry which is so largely based upon the work 

 of Faraday and other great pure scientists, or in the development of 

 the dye industry which is based upon the work of the organic chem- 

 ists of this country and abroad. This list could be increased almost 

 ad infinitum. 



