October 28, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



409 



THE USE OF VITAMINE FOOD-TABLETS AS AN 



AID TOWARD CONSERVING THE FOOD 



SUPPLY 1 



In the conservation of food, it is necessary 

 to remove the vitamines from certain staple 

 products. Wheat flour can not be conserved 

 for a long period unless it is bolted, thereby 

 removing all of the vitamines. Cane sugar 

 is perfectly stable, but this stability is due to 

 the fact that any protein or vitamine that 

 may have been in the cane juice has been re- 

 moved. The hydrogenated fats are about the 

 most stable of the fats, and yet the vitamine 

 content is zero. It is, therefore, highly de- 

 sirable to have vitamine preparations to com- 

 plete the dietary. Fresh vegetables and fruits 

 may be had in season, but their transportation, 

 storage and marketing are very expensive, and 

 usually accompanied by enormous vcaste. 

 There are many families who do not, under 

 the present system, receive sufficient vitamines 

 in their food. Therefore, some addition seems 

 necessary, but this is clearly considered as an 

 addition, and not as a substitute for anything. 

 These additions may be in the form of dehy- 

 drated products. Many of the vegetables and 

 fruits may be dehydrated and consumed in 

 a form which will furnish the consumer with 

 considerable vitamine, and yet not necessitate 

 a change in the methods of preparation of 

 foods by the family. Those dehydrated vege- 

 tables may contain vitamines A and B, and 

 dehydrated fruits may, under certain circum- 

 stances, contain in addition some vitamine — 0. 

 The dietary habits of various persons, how- 

 ever, form an obstacle to the consumption of 

 sufficient vitamines. There are also many per- 

 sons who can relish fresh foods (spinach, for 

 instance) when they can not stomach dehy- 

 drated foods (spinach). The peel of citrus 

 fruits, and some other fruits, is very rich in 

 vitamines, yet no one eats them. For those 

 persons who do not relish certain vitamine- 

 containing vegetable products, the use of tab- 

 lets containing these products, that may be 

 swallowed whole, seems desirable. Orange 

 peelings ground in a meat chopper, dried and 



1 Contribution from laboratory of physiological 

 chemistry. University of Minnesota. 



ground in a coSee mill may be made into 

 tablets by the addition of dehydrated orange 

 juice acting as a binder. Such tablets con- 

 tain vitamines A, B and C Ground spinach 

 may be similarly made into tablets with orange 

 juice. I have tried these preparations on ani- 

 mals and determined their effectiveness in 

 regard to vitamine content. Many workers 

 may be engaged in determining the exact 

 vitamine content of many of these prepara- 

 tions^ and I do not wish to compete with their 

 work in this paper, but merely wish to advo- 

 cate the method of swallowing this vitamine 

 food whole, in order to avoid the censorship 

 of the palate. 



J. F. MoOlendon 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Anatomy of the Nervous System from the 

 Standpoint of Development and Function. 

 By Stephen Walter Eanson, Professor of 

 Anatomy in Northwestern University Med- 

 ical School. 395 pages, 260 illustrations. 

 Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Co., 1920. 

 A certain professor in an American uni- 

 versity, through whose laboratory there an- 

 nually pass between one and two hundred stu- 

 dents of the anatomy of the nervous system, 

 has been heard to remark, " Nobody ever 

 learned any neurology out of a book," mean- 

 ing, of course, that only by actual laboratory 

 contact with neurological materials can one 

 hope to master the baffling complexity of brain 

 structure. No printed description, no pictorial 

 illustration, not even the laboratory demonstra- 

 tion of elegant dissections and brilliantly 

 stained microscopic sections, can take the place 

 of the kinesthetic experience which each must 

 acquire for himself by personal study, manipu- 

 lation, and dissection of the tissues. 



Of course, to this it may be answered that 

 nobody ever learned much neurology without 

 the aid of good books. And until relatively re- 

 cent times the lack of suitable student manuals 

 was probably one of the factors responsible for 

 the futility of much of the teaching of the 



2 Cooper, Ethel, 1921, Froc. Exp. Biol. Med., 

 XVIII., 343. 



