The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-03-18
AN INVISIBLE POWER.
vitamines the Name Given to Substances
as Yet Unidentified.


Get good grip on this new word |
vltamine which you are going to hear
more and more about; it's pretty closely |
tied up to your health" said Dr. H. Z. !
Howe, a prominent member of the North
eastern section of the American Chemi-
cal society. what is a yitamine? Well.
it's rather difficult to answer that
straight out. Vitamine is the name given
TO substances as vet unidentified which
have the power to promote and sustain
body growth; like electricity, they have
never been seem We have gained our
present knowledge of electrical energy
and the laws which govern it through
observation of what it does and some
thing is known of the way in which il
does it. BY painstaking research infor-
nation regarding what vitamines do has
been gained but Just how they accom-
plish the results remains somewhat of a
| mystery. 1t was observed that where
| the people live almost entirely upon
! polished rice a peculiar fatal disease,
| Beri-Beri, was found and that where rice
| formed but part of the diet there was
no such disease Science set out to find
| why and one of the early experiments
demonstrated that unpublished rice not
/ only prevented but tended to cure Beri-
! Beri.
Feeding experiments, using rats and
/ guinea pigs and pigeons, have gone on
ever since and by the process of elimina-
ton, and later combination of elements.
we now know that an invisible substance
is present in certain foods and if we do
not have them III our diet we cannot
exist Further. there are two kinds of
vitamines to which, for want of better
designations, have been given the names
Fat Soluble A and Water Soluble B. Both
are essential. The one is found in butter
tat and some other animal fats. the yolk
OF eggs, in liver and certain vegetables
The other occurs in yeast, milk, cereals
fresh fruit and fruit juices and often
with the fat soluble variety
/ The practical application is that, espe-
cially in the diet of children, food rich
in yitamines must be included and for al
of us q mixed diet is essential We sui.
$ fer no injury if in the face of high but
4 ter prices we use palatable substitutes
a because Americans are fortunate in hav
: ing a mixed diet and hence MANY sources
of vitamines We can supplement oul
t food supply by more universal and con
i slant use of dry skim milk, taking ad
e vantage thereby of cheap body building
: protein for our fat soluble vitamine vii
4 be found in other items of the average
S diet. But young child cannot manag,
/ complex diet, hence the Fundamental
Importance of proper milk supply, pure
n rich and not beyond the purse of the les
@ wellto-d Here dry whole milk PLAY
g its part for vitamines are not injured
@ at the temperature used in the hes
@ methods of drying.
n When American relief, as represent
/ ed by the Red Cross and other organiza
tions, reached Serbia and Rumania tn,
children were found to be in terrible
Estate, due To the lack of vitamines as
result of no milk, following the disap
l. pearance of the herds As an emergancl
!, measure a mission is said to have under
taken the considerable journey to Balti
$ seaports and to have returned laden witt
1t cod liver oil, known to be rich in ia
soluble yitamines. In Japan, when chill
dren are run down. chicken livers ar
added to the food supply in quantity
In the Far East, unpublished rice is bein
\ used to reduce Beri-Beri In France DIR,
milk is needed to the extent of ton
day from America that the French chill
dren may have proper yitamine bearin
food
And SO Whlle chemists nave so Ia
been unable to isolate and identify vita
mines, there are numerous researcher
of the first rank who have proven tn
existence OF such bodies and their cor
illusions based on work with lower an
mails are being confirmed by the eA
periehces of the race at time when ba
bies and young children are worth MOI
than at any either period in our histor,
Tn caufribui iup IN o1r know ladrp of " ha
is essential to proper growth biologic;
chemistry has placed us in its debt. y
Springfield Union.