August. 1922 



SCIENTIFIC ACRICL-LTl-RK 



401 



but large quantititt's of raw material have 

 to be worked up to get: even a few deci- 

 grammes of the antineuritic compound. In 

 one case a gramme or so was obtained from a 

 ton of rice millings. Attempts to reduce 

 these semi-pure preparations to further sub- 

 division have resulted iii the destruction of 

 their therapeutic power by the chemical tech- 

 nique employed by the various investigators 

 and this has been the principi) obstacle to 

 the ultimate identification of the various mem- 

 bers of the vitamin group. Absorj)tion 

 media such as clay, fuller's earth and char- 

 coal and other materials possess the power to 

 take up the vitamin from solutions. This 

 amount so separated varies with each ab- 

 sorption material but is never complete. 



The concentrated preparations give some 

 of the general reactions of the pyrimidine 

 group and investigations ii! regard to the 

 known members of the pyrimidine and pur- 

 ine groups have demonstrated that some of 

 these compounds display a partial curative 

 action upon experimental beri beri, varying 

 with the particular compound studied, but in 

 no way comparable with the activity of the 

 antineuritic substance itself. It has been 

 tentatively suggested that the curative ele- 

 ment may be an isomer of adenine and claims 

 have been made that a-hydi"oxy-pyrine can 

 exist in two crystalline forms one acti\ e and 

 the other negative in its behaviour to the 

 disease. 



The physiological activity of the wai<T 

 soluble accessory is not concerned alone 

 with its activity in protecting the body from 

 the onset of beri beri but it is the vital spark 

 which activates the nervous s^^stem and it 

 also can stimulate very powerfully the se- 

 cretion of the digestive organs and produces 

 active penistalsis of the musculature of the 

 intestinal canal. It also is an important 

 factor in the storage and metabolism of th'" 

 carbohydrates. These seems to be a definite 

 amount of this accessory required to treat a 

 certain quantity of sugar since by increasing 

 the sugar portion of the diet attacks of beri 

 beri can be developed sooner than tiie case 

 where the carbohydrate is low. A relativ,; 

 deficiency may take place by increasing the 

 sugar intake without a corresponding in- 

 crease in the consumption of the accessory 

 factor and finally produce a mild chronic 

 deficiency disease. 



The antiscorbutic factor like the water 

 soluble accessory is also soluble in water and 

 dilute acids and insoluble in the usual organic 

 solvents with the exception of dilute alcohol. 



It can be dialysid wholly or in part depending 

 on the size of the pores of the semi-permeable 

 membrane. It is extremely thermolabile and 

 loses its curative activity when the solutions 

 are heated at various ranges up to 100"C. 

 the degree of destruction being a combination 

 of the time and temperature factors and is 

 due to the action of the atmospheric oxygen 

 since its solutions can be boiled for hours 

 without depreciation if oxygen is excluded 

 from the vessel. Oxidizing, agents, such as 

 peroxide and permanganate, can completely 

 eliminate its therapeutic power. It can not 

 exist unchanged for any period of time unless 

 the reaction of the medium is acid, and alka- 

 lies and food preserving agents will quickly 

 reduce the antiscorbutic power of various food 

 stuffs to zero at ordinary temperatures and 

 dessication of ordinary antiscorbutic food 

 stuffs in their original state will produce a 

 like result. Autoclaving at I20'-C. for one 

 hour effects complete destruction in neutral 

 media. 



This substance is widely distributed in 

 nature in the living cells of plant tissues but 

 to the greatest extent in fruits of the citrus 

 type and to a lesser extent in all fruits whose 

 juices are acid in reaction. Green leaves 

 also possess a moderate protective power, 

 a property shared in common with tuberous 

 roots of which the suede turnip is the prin- 

 cipal exponent. These roots possess their 

 therapeutic power when they are stored with 

 the cells in their normal turgid condition but 

 lose this if subjected to dessication. Cereal 

 grains in their dessicated condition are like- 

 wise inactive but their antiscorbutic action 

 is restored by the process of germination. 

 The citrus group of fruits is par excellence 

 the chief source of the active compound and 

 the acidity of fruits generally enables them 

 to undergo prolonged storage without serious 

 impairment of their physiological power. 



While the juices of the lime and lemon 

 have been popular on account of their anti- 

 scorbutic powers concentrated preparations 

 have been made after separation of the or- 

 ganic acids and distilling in vacuo to dryness 

 keeping the reaction slightly acid. Concen- 

 trated preparations of orange juice have been 

 made on a large scale and have still retained 

 their original activity when stored for periods 

 up to two years. 



Milk, contrary to the generally accepted 

 ideas, is not a reliable antiscorbutic since its 

 reaction tends to the alkaline range and pro- 

 motes the oxidation of this important factor. 

 Pasteurization combined with storage for 



