As a result of being fed on an exclusive diet of polished rice and water, in a few
weeks — three to five — the pigeons began to stagger, lost their power to stand up, and
finally became unable to eat. At this point, a portion of fluid extracted from soaked wheat
bran (in the absence of rice polishings) was administered by opening the birds' bills and
forcing them to swallow it, with the result that the birds made rapid recovery, and in a
short time were as well as ever.
2 Journal of Medical Research, volume 31, No. 2.
17
SCIENCE of FOOD and COOKERY
Beriberi is a serious disease of the nervous tissues. As it pro-
gresses, it affects every tissue in the body and eventually the heart,
and is fatal unless a substance containing anti-rieuritic vitamine —
or more definitely, water-soluble B — is administered. The pigeons
in the former case, like the chickens in the latter, had beriberi.
Observe that the rice with which the pigeons were fed was good
rice, the ordinary white kernels commonly bought at the grocery,
the hulls having been removed to make it attractive and to improve
the keeping quality. The white bread that resulted in disease and
death to the chickens in the latter case, was good bread, such as
is commonly bought at bakeries. But the food was lacking in the
essential accessory substances, the vitamines.
Hopkins3 discovered that small additions of milk to food mix-
tures of purified protein, carbohydrate, fat, and inorganic salts,
rendered them capable of inducing growth, whereas without such
additions of milk, no growth could be secured. He interpreted this
to mean that milk contains unidentified chemical substances indis-
pensable to the diet, and that the failure of animals to grow, and
to have -a normal length of life, was caused by the absence of these
essentials, which he designated "accessory" substances.
Experiments by McCollum and Davis* brought out the fact
that although chemical analysis of whole grain cereal shows it to
contain all the essential food substances, such as protein, starch,
sugar, fat, and all the. mineral salts that occur in the body of an
animal, cows did not do well when fed strictly on seeds or seed
mixtures. But when they were fed on a corn mixture, including
the seed, straw, and leaf of the plant, their nutrition was excellent,
as shown by their appearance, the vigor of their offspring, and
their ability to produce an abundance of milk. This indicated a
dietetic value in the leaf of the plant.
The work of these men showed, moreover, that certain fats,
as butter fat, egg yolk fat, and numerous products of the plant
kingdom, contain something that greatly stimulates growth when
added to a diet of purified foodstuffs. Funk and Macallum
3 English Journal of Physiology, volume 44, 1912.
* "Newer Knowledge of Nutrition," Journal of Biological Chemistry, volume 24, No. 4.
18
pointed out -hat butter does not relieve polyneuritis in pigeons.
McCollum and Kennedy, after giving several reasons why the
term "vitamines" was unsatisfactory, proposed the provisional terms
"fat-soluble A" and "water-soluble B," because of the characteristic
solubility of these substances in fats and water respectively.
(Since this was given out by McCollum, a third dietary essen-
tial has been discovered.)
FAT-SOLUBLE A
Page 7
Presented as published in 1921. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
As a result of being fed on an exclusive diet of polished rice and water, in a few weeks — three to five — the pigeons began to stagger, lost their power to stand up, and finally became unable to eat. At this point, a portion of fluid extracted from soaked wheat bran (in the absence of rice polishings) was administered by opening the birds' bills and forcing them to swallow it, with the result that the birds made rapid recovery, and in a short time were as well as ever.
2 Journal of Medical Research, volume 31, No. 2.
Beriberi is a serious disease of the nervous tissues. As it progresses, it affects every tissue in the body and eventually the heart, and is fatal unless a substance containing anti-neuritic vitamine — or more definitely, water-soluble B — is administered. The pigeons in the former case, like the chickens in the latter, had beriberi. Observe that the rice with which the pigeons were fed was good rice, the ordinary white kernels commonly bought at the grocery, the hulls having been removed to make it attractive and to improve the keeping quality. The white bread that resulted in disease and death to the chickens in the latter case, was good bread, such as is commonly bought at bakeries. But the food was lacking in the essential accessory substances, the vitamines.
Hopkins3 discovered that small additions of milk to food mixtures of purified protein, carbohydrate, fat, and inorganic salts, rendered them capable of inducing growth, whereas without such additions of milk, no growth could be secured. He interpreted this to mean that milk contains unidentified chemical substances indispensable to the diet, and that the failure of animals to grow, and to have -a normal length of life, was caused by the absence of these essentials, which he designated "accessory" substances.
Experiments by McCollum and Davis* brought out the fact that although chemical analysis of whole grain cereal shows it to contain all the essential food substances, such as protein, starch, sugar, fat, and all the. mineral salts that occur in the body of an animal, cows did not do well when fed strictly on seeds or seed mixtures. But when they were fed on a corn mixture, including the seed, straw, and leaf of the plant, their nutrition was excellent, as shown by their appearance, the vigor of their offspring, and their ability to produce an abundance of milk. This indicated a dietetic value in the leaf of the plant.
The work of these men showed, moreover, that certain fats, as butter fat, egg yolk fat, and numerous products of the plant kingdom, contain something that greatly stimulates growth when added to a diet of purified foodstuffs. Funk and Macallum
3 English Journal of Physiology, volume 44, 1912.
* "Newer Knowledge of Nutrition," Journal of Biological Chemistry, volume 24, No. 4.
pointed out -hat butter does not relieve polyneuritis in pigeons. McCollum and Kennedy, after giving several reasons why the term "vitamines" was unsatisfactory, proposed the provisional terms "fat-soluble A" and "water-soluble B," because of the characteristic solubility of these substances in fats and water respectively.
(Since this was given out by McCollum, a third dietary essential has been discovered.)
FAT-SOLUBLE A