Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1921-02-17
SCIENCE SEEKS
. FOR v1TAMINES
! Elusive Substance Gives Zest
and Real Value to the
Food We Eat.
FLEES THE TABLE D'AOTES
Scientists Concentrate on Separating
II From vIands, but Without Sue
eess-Differ as to What a
vItamine Really ls.

New York.-Food values are OF es-
pecial interest these days or hieh
prices.
One dimes at, say, restaurant In
New York city's Latin Quarter,
famed for it's atmosphere but uncer-
tain as to cooking. The food is men-
toned casually on the menu in sew
eral languages-but the chicken Is
tasteless, the potatoes boring ana TIE
salad disappointing. However, one Is
hungry and eats largely. An houT
later, the pangs of hunger again make
themselves felt. One finally resorts to
the home icebox and partakes of some
humble bread and butter and milk.
and that indefinable lack is satisfied.
The reason for this state of affairs
Is not far to seek. Vitamines. AT
such places the food is deficient IN
these intangible and microscopic sub
stances, which scientists have proved
are essential to nutrition and which
are to be found in Il large number uf
properly prepared foods but are "e-
srroyed by excessive heat, drying ~
other methods of preservation often
employed for economy or convenience.
The mystery of the vitamine is, there
fore, of vital interest, as its name I'M
plies, to the world at large.
What is a Vitamine7
Just what is a vltamine? This ques-
tion Is still perpleXing chemists, i'c-
cording to recent article by u.
Atherton Seidell of the public health
service, I'm the current number of the
Journal of Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry. These elusive substances
have been found necessary not only as
dietary factors but even for the pro
longatlOn of life. Their exact nature,
however, still remains mystery
though much has been discovered con
corning their effect on the human SyS-
tenn and the general benefits conferred
by them. For instance, experiments
have proved that animals can live III
definitely on Il diet Of milk alone. Eut
supply all the constituents OF milk
separately proteins, carbohydrates,
fats and salts, in fact, all the known
away and finally dies.
Several theories are held In regard
to this problem. Some scientists in
cline to classify vitamines rs struc-
tnral compounds of living tissues,
which function along the same lines
as the other tissues. Others re!egate
them to the "cataiysts," those strange
lat. A, Il
fined as chemical parsons as they
accomplish the chemical union of
various substances without being
themselves affected. Many think that
they are derived originally from
plants, and one well-knOwn scientist
states that they are always present
IN natural foodstuffs instinctively con-
Sumed by men and animals.
Three Types Of Vitamine.
At the present time, three types of
vitamine are known to exist: The
water-soluble variety, found in milk,
yeast, and other substances; the fat
soluble ones, which are present in but
ter and egg yolks; and third class,
designated as "antiscorbutic," which is
found in a number of fresh vegetables
and fruits and also in the outside
husk of rice. Lack Of these necessary
food constituents results in various
ills-scurvy. beri-beri, and other dis
eases.
In fact, the Importance of the anti
scorbutic factor was discovered purely
accidentally, as result of an epidem-
ic OF beri-beri among the relocating
Eastern nations after modern milling
methods obtained in these countries
and the surface layer of the rice was
removed. When an extract of this
husk was eventually supplied. the dis
ease was prevented.
Lack of both the other types of vita
mine result in gradual wasting
away. This, in the case of the fat
soluble vitamine. is accompanied by
blindness and often by lung trouble,
hut the wasting process is more grad
ual, as the system subsists for while
on Its reserve store of fat.