VITAMINES 



43 



tlie dietetic standards are low and unsatisfactory, 

 and its children are greatly prone to rickets. 



The following table shows the extraordinary 

 prophylactic results of administering cod-liver oil. 



. In the case of the disease scurvy, which arises 

 when no fresh foods are available, the cause is again 

 deficiency in a subtle but indispensable element for 

 nutrition. So important is the subject of scurvy, 

 and from the standpoint of dietetics so suggestive, 

 that you are to hear from Professor Harden a special 

 lecture devoted to it. It is necessary, however, 

 that I should mention it because we learn from this 

 disease that at least one other vitamine exists, quite 

 distinct from the two hitherto considered. The 

 antiscorbutic factor, unlike the antineuritic or the 

 fat-soluble substance, is very unstable. These last 

 show considerable resistance to heat and do not 

 necessarily disappear when food-stufis are kept, even 

 for long periods, whereas the antiscorbutic sub- 

 stance is rapidly destroyed when fresh food-stuffs 

 are heated, dried even at low temperatures, or kept 

 too long. 



Another disease which may be mentioned is one 



