lbs RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1019 
Vitamines; the Life-Giving Food Elements 
The Absolute Necessity of Milk 
Y EAST VITAMINES.—The amount of vitamine 
necessary for life is small, nevertheless, the re¬ 
quirement for this food factor is quantitative; that 
is, enough must be supplied if normal growth of the 
young or maintenance of the adult is to result. This 
has been shown by experiments in which weighed 
quantities of yeast, a substance richer in the water- 
soluble vitamine than any other yet discovered, fur¬ 
nished all of the vitamines of the diet. When less 
than a certain small amount of yeast is fed daily the 
young grow more slowly than normal and adults 
gradually decline. As soon as more yeast is supplied 
the animal at once gains in weight and regains its 
normal health. 
INFANT FEEDING.—There is no question that 
herein lies the cause of much of the trouble encoun¬ 
tered in feeding the baby with the bottle. This is 
analogous to our experience in feeding young rats on 
artificial diets, for the baby’s bottle contains a mix¬ 
ture of nutrients very much like that given to our 
baby rats. So long as the food of these was de¬ 
ficient in vitamine endless troubles were encountered. 
As soon as enough vitamine was present the troubles 
disappeared. The usual practice in feeding infants 
is to dilute top milk with water and then add milk 
sugar. Although whole milk contains more than 
enough of the water-soluble vitamine 
for the normal growth of the child 
when one part of the top milk is diluted 
with two parts of water, a pint of this 
mixture contains less than one-third 
as much water-soluble vitamine as did 
a pint of the original milk. While this 
mixture, may furnish enough water- 
soluble vitamine for the growing child 
as long as its appetite impels it to take 
the quantity needed by a healthy child, 
if anything happens to impair this 
appetite the smaller quantity of the 
diluted milk may then easily fail to 
furnish enough water-soluble vitamine 
to meet the normal requirements. The 
inevitable result of too little vitamine 
is a failure of appetite, so that in con¬ 
sequence the child will go from bad to 
worse, unless in some way enough vita¬ 
mine is supplied. 
SKIM-MILK.—The difficulties en¬ 
countered in bottle feeding are due 
largely to the deficiency of the diluted 
milk iu water-soluble vitamine, for the 
top milk, which contains the larger 
part of the milk fat. supplies enough 
of the fat-soluble vitamine. Children 
who can take undiluted milk should 
not be fed with skimmed or separator 
milk, for while this will furnish enough of the 
water-soluble vitamine, it will supply too little of the 
fat-soluble. That serious trouble may follow the 
use of skim-milk as shown by Fig. 289, which shows 
the condition into which Danish children got during 
the war by thus feeding. They have ulcers on the 
eyes and inflamed lids as a marked symptom, pre¬ 
cisely as do rats which are fed on a like diet 
deficient in the fat-soluble vitamine. 
DEFICIENCIES IN DIET—Iu view of the fact 
that so many of the articles which make up a large 
part of the diet of the majority of people contain 
either no water-soluble vitamine, or else relatively 
little, it seems not unlikely that many adults of 
sedentary habits really suffer from a deficiency of 
this vitamine in their food. Where the food con¬ 
tains but little of this vitamine it is conceivable that 
those whose food intake is small really do not get 
enough of this food factor, whereas those who are 
more active and eat larger quantities may get quite 
enough, although the kind and proportion of the ar¬ 
ticles comprising their diets may be the same as that 
of those who are “run down” and ailing. In two 
cases of this sort, which have come to my notice, a 
marked improvement in appetite and vigor followed 
the addition of a few grams of dried yeast to the 
daily diets. In fact, these persons appeared to re¬ 
spond to this treatment in exactly the same way that 
our rats do when the vitamine content of their food 
is increased from a deficient amount to one that is 
sufficient. 
A TYPICAL CASE.—Fig. 287 shows the condition 
of a young rat which has been fed for 30 days on a 
diet nearly free from water-soluble vitamine. When 
Part II. 
Ill-fed Rat with Inflamed Eyes. Fit). 286 
this picture was taken the animal was very weak, 
and probably would have died within a few hours if 
a little extract of yeast had not been given. It was 
so nearly dead that the yeast, suspended in water, 
had to be given with a medicine dropper. The next 
day it was running about its cage, and during the 
following week ate twice as much as in the previous 
week. After 12 days it had gained G8 per cent in 
weight, and was so active that it was difficult to take 
the picture shown in Fig. 288. The effect of the 
water-soluble vitamine in such cases is truly marvel- 
Fed 30 Days on Diet Nearly Free From Vitamine. Fig. 287 
The Same Rut 12 Days After When Properly Fed. Fig. 288 
the farm consist of the vitamine-rich parts of the 
vegetable and animal products rejected iu preparing 
human foods that the average farm animal probably 
receives a food richer in water-soluble vitamine than 
it would get in a state of nature. 
VITAMINES IN STOCK FEEDING.—Although 
from this point of view the water-soluble vitamine 
appears to have little if any practical importance for 
the feeder of farm animals it is not at all impossible 
that further investigations may show that this newly 
discovered factor in nutrition plays a part of eco¬ 
nomic importance. Thus we do not yet know cer¬ 
tainly whether the vitamine content of milk depends 
in part or in whole on the vitamine content of the 
ration of the cow. McCollum believes that it does, 
and has offered experimental evidence which he 
thinks is sufficient to justify this conclusion. Since 
the water-soluble vitamine is one of the most valu¬ 
able constituents which milk contributes to the hu¬ 
man dietary, if McCollum's view is correct we may 
have the means of controlling the proportion of this 
food factor in the milk. In this connection the ob¬ 
servation which we have very recently made in this 
laboratory that young clover, Alfalfa and Timothy 
grass are much richer in water-soluble vitamine than 
are the hays made from these plants may be of prac¬ 
tical importance. 
STIMULATING INFLUENCES. — 
Furthermore, vitamines seem to act 
as if they were stimulants to the chem¬ 
ical processes which constitute the life 
of the animal in much the same way 
as heat stimulates these processes in 
a cold-blooded animal. It has long 
been known that when protein is fed 
the heat eliminated by the animal is 
increased bv a far larger amount than 
when an equivalent amount of carbo¬ 
hydrate or fat is given. Lusk has 
shown that this extra heat is due to 
a stimulation of cells whereby the oxi¬ 
dations within them are increased, with 
a corresponding increase in the amount 
of heat involved. Armsby has found 
that this extra heat eliminated by cat¬ 
tle under the stimulating influence of 
food is far greater than by dogs or 
men. In view of the relatively high 
content in water-soluble vitamine in 
the food of cattle compared with that 
of dogs or men the question arises, 
may this not be due to a stimulation of 
oxidizing processes of the body cells 
induced by the water-soluble vitamine 
of the food? This is a question which 
has not been studied, but is one that 
ous. and the wonder is that so important a factor in 
our foods was overlooked for so long. Domestic ani¬ 
mals are not as likely to suffer from a lack of the 
water-soluble vitamine as are human beings, because 
they are rarely fed on the refined food products so 
largely used by man. In view of what we know 
about the distribution of the water-soluble vitamine 
in the seeds and fodders it is difficult to conceive of a 
ration for cattle, hogs, poultry, or other stock which 
would not supply enough if the requirements of these 
animals are similar to that of the rat. In fact, so 
large a part of the concentrates used in feeding on 
.Child with Diseased Muefu. Ey j, 28 P 
can be investigated by methods already available. 
If it should turn out that a waste of food follows 
the consumption of too much water-soluble vitamine 
it may be possible to find means whereby economies 
can be effected iu feeding our live stock. 
UTILIZATION OF FOOD.—On the other hand we 
have cases among our experimental animals where 
the food was apparently better utilized when an ade¬ 
quate amount of vitamine was fed than when too lit¬ 
tle was supplied. It may well be true that the most 
economical utilization of the food occurs only when 
the food contains a certain optimum proportion of 
this vitamine. A wide field for further investigation 
lies before us. one which doubtless is to yield results 
of scientific, as well as economic importance. The 
fat-soluble vitamine has even more significance for 
the farmer than has the water-soluble vitamine. for 
this is not so widely distributed in nature, nor is it 
an abundant constituent of the protein concentrates. 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS.—The young ani¬ 
mal must have a certain amount of the fat-soluble 
vitamine if it is to grow normally to adult size. 
Whether any growth can be made in the entire ab¬ 
sence of this vitamine. or whether the animal will 
grow for a time and then suddenly fail, is still un¬ 
settled. The results of experiments by different in¬ 
vestigators are not entirely in harmony, because uo 
one yet knows how to prepare a food assuredly free 
from this food factor. Our young rats fed on diets 
prepared by methods which we have believed suitable 
for removing all of the fat-soluble vitamine usually 
grow at about the normal rate for several weeks 
and then suddenly fail, while adults have failed on 
such diets after six months or more. McCollum, on 
