Evening star., 1927-02-17

ThlS IS a KIND world. AFTER all. 1t
is not exclusively self-centered. as has
sometimes been charged. The Intel
ligentsia" is interested in the ''prole-
tariat." and Big Business has proved
it's heart" Uncle Shylock has made
expectation of returns. And cold
science devotes it's richest prizes to
humanity without reward.
News comes from the University of
Wisconsin that Prof. Harry Steenbock.
chemist. has refused $2.0O0.000 for a
patent on his discovery of Vitamin
X lalias "D'1. and gives it freely to
the public. According to the Patent
Office. the discoverer has not even APP
piled for a patent, yet Vitamin X-or
D-has a value which only a Henry
Ford fortune might measure.
Scientists are even worse than In
ventors In ignoring mere money prof
it's. Agassiz once refused rich lee
ture tour proffered TO him, saying
that he had no time to make money"
Prof. Steenbock says he does not in
tend to pervert his life's greatest work
by selling it."
What is vitamin Y? What is any
vitamin? What will 1t do? How is 1t
obtained?
A vitamin is a mysterious factor or
element in food. 1t can be best de-
fined in the language of the boy who
explained that "salt is what makes
potatoes taste bad when you don't put
1t on" Generally speaking, no one
knew that vitamins existed until some
Is or 20 years ago: they had no
name unit; 1912. Then DR.. Casimir
Funk isolated three and he called
them:
Fat-soluble A, which is essential for
growth. and the absence of which
brings blindness.
water-soluble B, a shortage of which
brings the disease called beriberi.
Water-soluble C., whose shortage in
foods leads TO scurvy.
Absence of the unknown" Fitamin
X Tor d. causes sterility and deficiency
in bone formation. For years. scien-
lists have been searching for that eie-
ment in foods. Prof. Steenbock 1ound
II in 1928. In an article by DR.. Slos-
son. editor of Science, February, 1873,
il is stated: Rats reared on purlfed
laboratory diet-casein, cornstarcn,
lard, butterfat and salt, even with
ample quantities of growth producing
Vitamins A and Bare sterile. without
IL.
Vitamin X and they become prolific.
September 12, 1924. DIR. Slosson re-
ported from a scientific conference in
ithaca. n. Y, that DR.. Harry Steen-
book, professor of agricultural chem
istry, had made the sensational an
nouncement to the American Chemical
Society. that sunlight gives vitality
to an unknown vitamin, and showed
that the ultraviolet rays dnvisible,
create the unknown vitamin. whicn
"is involved in the assimilation of
lime in the body, and is therefore es-
sential in the growth of bones. preven-
ton of ricketts, and bowlegs and defec-
tive teeth" He showed that when cod
liver oil is deprived Of that mysterious
element it could be enriched by ex-
posure to direct sunlight. not filtered
through glass.
Ricketts, are rare in the tropics be-
cause babies are exposed to sunlight,
but in the North direct sunlight, with
out glass, is almost impossible. Dle'
tetic treatment therefore is necessary
as a daily ration. Activated oils con-
tanning Vitamin x may be given pa
bies as medicine in modified COW
milk and to adults in salad dressings.
They carry "Vitamin Y" put there by
proper exposure. to sunlight without
glass filtering of the rays.
Other chemists claim to have been
working along the same lines as Steen-
book, but that is usually the case in
scientific discoveries.
When it is recognized that Vitamin
X is the great regulator against race
suicide, its Importance cannot be meas
ured, Italy eats too much and France
too little of it. See population statis-
tics.
Whether the story of Steamboats, s
public gift is accurate or not, SINH
lar instances of devotion to the ideal
of the public's sharing of great
scientific discoveries are not rare.
Yet each one causes the commercial
instincts Of the ordinary layman to
gasp with amazement.
There was the discovery of serum
for the treatment of hog cholera.
made by Drs. Marion Dorset and
Robert r. Henley of the United States
Department of Agriculture. and
patented in 1905. The patent was as
signed to the Department of Agri-
culture, without any special COM
they not receiving their munificent
salaries as scientists in Government
employ?
What was the value of the hog
raising industry saved from destruc-
ton? The serum secret was licensed
by the Government to private manu- |
facturers and when, in 1918, the |
original discoverers found an i'm
proved method of manufacturing it, |
that saved the manufacturers each |
from SIS to $2Sa day. In 1920. an