PROBLEMS OF MODERN SCIENCE 



oil of the liver ; hence the well-known superiority 

 of cod-liver oil over such an oil as olive oil in 

 treating malnutrition has been at last explained. 

 Absence or deficiency of this vitamin is the cause 

 of stunted growth, and so fully are most observers 

 convinced that this is one cause of rickets, and 

 the associated condition of bad teeth, that it is 

 now usual to speak of it as the ' anti-rachitic ' 

 factor. 



Vitamin B is contained in the embryo-plant 

 in the seeds of cereals and similar grains used as 

 food. In highly milled grains it is removed by 

 the polishing process, and the use of polished rice 

 in the East led to the development of a terrible 

 scourge called beri-beri. Superfine white flour 

 made from highly milled wheat is equally imperfect 

 as a food, and our war-bread, in spite of our dis- 

 taste for it, had the advantage of containing the 

 health-giving vitamin. The disease, if produced, 

 can always be cured, and cured rapidly, by add- 

 ing the polishings of the grains to the diet. So 

 prominent a symptom is neuritis in the complaint, 

 that the term * anti-neuritic ' factor is often applied 

 to this particular vitamin. 



Vitamin C is the ' anti-scorbutic ' factor ; it is 

 present in fresh fruits and most edible vegetables. 

 It was the absence of these commodities in fore- 

 gone times, when sailing-ships toiled on their long 

 voyages, that made scurvy the curse of the navy 

 196 



