voi. Lxxmi. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co., 
333 W. 30th St., New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 23, 1919. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, June 26, 1879, at the Post 
Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
No. 4548. 
The Story of the Vi tamines 
> r * * / \ 
A Thorough Discussion of the Vital Principles of Food 
I NTERESTED- INQUIRIES.—The editor of The 
R. N.-Y. has sent me several letters received by 
bim concerning my article on vitamines, which 
appeared in June, with a request for another article 
replying to them. Evidently this subject interests 
more of the readers than I had expected, and as 
their letters ask for further information respecting 
the properties of the various vitamines I shall en¬ 
deavor in the present communication to give a brief 
account of what has already been learned in this 
field of investigation. The questions asked by my 
readers are largely prompted by their desire to apply 
this new knowledge of nutrition either to the ques¬ 
tioner’s own case or to that of some relative or 
friend. After reading what follows it will be, I 
think, clear why positive answers cannot as yet be 
Part I. 
i 
j * 
given to many questions that may very properly be 
asked. 
CONFLICTING STATEMENTS.—As we review 
our information, gathered from a study of the in¬ 
vestigations made up to the present time, we find 
many conflicting statements. That different investi¬ 
gations have given contradictory results is not due 
to incompetence, or to carelessness on the part of 
the investigators, but rather to the complexities of 
the subject. Unknown conditions which affect the 
activity of the vitamines cannot be foreseen and 
guarded against in planning explorations in this 
unknown region of science. The existence of these 
conditions is learned through experiment, and their 
nature is revealed by the process of trial and error. 
Under such circumstances unknown properties of 
these mysterious elements of food are often dis¬ 
covered through the apparent failure of a new ex¬ 
periment, or its unexpected outcome. Thus if toma¬ 
toes can be dyed without materially losing then- 
power to prevent scurvy, while carrots cannot be 
dried under similar conditions without suffering a 
nearly complete loss of this power, there is some 
■ real reason for this difference in behavior. Such a 
difference could not be foreseen through application 
of any knowledge possessed by scientists. It is a 
new and unexpected fact which can only be explained 
by further study. One step in advance has already 
been made. The first experiments were made with 
old carrots; now it has been found that young car¬ 
rots retain their antiscorbutic power when dried 
under conditions which destroy it in the old. 
Mrs^. 'White Leghorn and Family—Well Fed on Vitamines. Fig. 376 
