Vol.. 6, 1920 
CHEMISTRY: R. A. BUTCHER 
II 
that he had been successful in isolating an organic base, Ci7Hi804N(HN03), 
from rice polishings which possessed a curative action. On account 
of the fact that this nitrogenous substance was apparently indispensable 
to life, Funk gave it the title "vitamine." This was the origin of the 
vitamine hypothesis. 
Since 1911-12 a number of investigators have studied many phases 
of the vitamine problem with the result that much has been learned con- 
cerning the vitamine content of various food materials and the effect 
of these diets on the growth and development of animals. However, 
very little advancement has been made in ascertaining with greater cer- 
tainty the chemical nature of the anti-beri-beri vitamine. Following the 
publication of Funk's article, Edie^ and his co-workers announced the 
isolation of a basic substance from yeast to which was ascribed the formula 
N(CH3)3C4H702(NH03). They named the substance "Torulin." Suzuki, 
Shimamura and Odake^ also publishing the same year obtained a pure 
chemical substance from rice polishings which possessed a curative action. 
This substance they identified as nicotinic acid. During the same year 
Schaumann^ prepared a phosphorus-free nitrogenous base which had 
curative properties. He advanced the hypothesis that this base acts 
as an "activator," stimulating the synthesis of phosphatids which are 
essential in the regeneration of degenerated nervous tissue. 
Funk^^ believed that the curative substance was chemically related to the 
pyrimidines or purines. To test this hypothesis he fed allantoin, hydan- 
toin, thymus nucleic acid and cytidine, obtaining varying degrees of im- 
provement in polyneuritic birds. 
Williams found that the hydroxyl pyridines possessed curative proper- 
ties which were lost on standing; this, he explains, is probably due to 
tautomerism and he suggests that the instability of vitamines may be 
explained on a similar basis. In a later publication^ ^ this writer concludes 
that the curative form of a-hydroxyl pyridine is structurally a pseudo- 
betaine. He postulates that nicotinic acid and possibly vitamines are 
of a similar nature. Harden and Zilva^^ confirmed the chemical facts 
regarding the a-hydroxyl pyridines and adenine, as put forth by Williams, 
but failed to obtain relief in avian polyneuritis when these preparations 
were fed. Voegtlin and White^^ also failed to obtain results as reported 
by Williams and Seidell. 
Views Concerning Its Metabolic Functions. — Funk^^ made the observa- 
tion that when no food was metabolized beri-beri symptoms did not ap- 
pear, while an increase in food intake, especially carbohydrate food, 
hastened the paralytic symptoms. ' This has been substantiated by other 
investigators, including the writer, except that we are inclined to believe 
that overloading the oxidative mechanism with any energy-producing 
food will usually hasten the onset of symptoms. Funk and Schonborn^^ 
associate this type of vitamine with carbohydrate metabolism and es- 
