Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-02
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By he Booklouer

aid of chemistry. The authors Of the
book include eminent physicians, pa
biologists, pharmacologists Psychologists,
psychologists as we'll as chemists" The
foreword says that each story will be
! told by a specialist In his field and as
far as possible in non-technical language
| that any layman can follow" There
are 10 divisions: THE Significance of
| Chemistry and of its Methods of Attack
on Fundamental Problems; "Heredity
and Development The Human Body
as Machine; THE Story of the Dis
/ covery of the Vitamins"; THE CONQUEST
of Dietary Diseases; Chemical Regula-
tors of the Body, The Policing of
Civic Life in the laboratory; "The
Alienation of Suffering; THE War on
Invading Germs" and "A Hope of Man
kind-Chsnlo-Therapy." The divisions
which discuss the most valuable contri-
| buttons OF chemistry to medicine within
the past cuarter-century are probably
| those on vitamins and dietary diseases
the ductleSs glands chemical regulators
OF the body, and germ diseases.
| * y *
| How the elusive nutrient principles
! called vitamins were discovered is told
by E. V. McCollum, professor of bio
! chemistry. and Nina Simmonds, associ-
ate professor of biochemistry, school of
| hygiene and public health, Johns Hon.
kins University. Diseases which result
from vitamin deficiency are ricketts,,
scurvy, pellagra. beriberi and probably
| many other ailments whose causes are
difficult to identify. Their cure Is to
be looked for in the regulation of diet,
| not in drugs. Foods which contain
vitamin A are cod liver oil, butter fat,
egg yolk, liver, leafy vegetables and all
yellow augmented vegetables. Growing
public knowledge of this fact accounts
! Tor the soaring of the price of calves
! liver to 81 pound or more. Vitamin
B Is present in unidentified rice, beans,
| peas, nuts and yeast SO the consump-
| ton of yeast cakes as an after dinner
CONNECTION Is not to be laughed at as
mere fad. Raw fruits and vegetables
; are rich in vitamin c. Lind stated
that total deprivation of men for about
40 days of all fresh fruits or vegetables
would result In the appearance Of incip-
lent Scurvy." That Is why today every
intelligent mother knows that a baby
fed on cows milk must receive an
antiscorbutic upplement-orange, lem
on or tomato juice" Vitamin D is nee
essary in dietary, or ricketts, may de-
velop in children. This vitamin is album
dainty present in the old-fashioned
ACiiCOy CoI ASCl OIl, IlOW restored 10
popularity. Butter and the yolks of
eggs also contain it, Cereals and va
rious leafy vegetables contain vitamin
E. The net conclusion seems to be
that to avoid all diseases one should
also avoid food fads and should eat
little of everything.
The general chapter on the ductless
glands, THE Internal Secretions," Is
written by Roy Graham Hoskins, di-
rector of research Memorial Founda-
ton for Endocrine Research, Harvard
University. The hormones, or active
chemical principles of the glands, share
with the vitamins the place of homer
in modern medical chemistry 1.-The
peculiar chemical substances that are
used in opotherapy are known as inter-
nal secretions or hormones. These may
be defined as substances produced in
one part of the body and distributed
by the blood or lymph to other parts,
the structure or functions of which
are thereby modified" The suprarenal,
pituitary. thyroid, parathyroid and sex
glands all have their functions, some
of which are antidotes to others which
secrete In excess. Modern chemistry has
produced medicines from some of these
glands for the treatment of diseases
resulting from gland atrophy or hyper
trophy, but much of the present vogue
OF gland therapy is hit-or-miss cropping
In the dark" Epinephrine, thyroxine,
pituitary extracts and insulin are some
OF the medicines derived from glands.
x * u x
To show the scope of the division
entitled The War on Invading Germs"
1t Is sufficient to give the chapter head
ings: THE Germ Theory of Disease;
'Immunity-the Chemical Warfare of
Existence; THE Fight Against Pus Or
ganisms"; 1.-THE Battle Against Malaria;
The Advance Against Amebic Dysen-
terry; The Hope of the Leper":; THE
Against Syphilis" and THE Battle
Against tuberculosis"
Paris of the fifteenth century was not
as dirty place as it was during the
ham Lewis, in his Francois Villon,"
most thorough and entertaining
biography of the vagabond poet. Yet
1T seems to have been dirty enough, for,
says Mr.. Lewis, there was "above all,
louder than all, possessing and over
flowing and embracing all, the smell,
the famous smell of Paris. The town
stank more bitterly than any other
large town of Europe. It's drainage
system had, it is true, been bettered
since the time of st. Louis, when 1t
could be summed up in four words,
Tout a la rue" Mr.. Lewis concludes
his further discussion of the drainage
OF Paris with the ironical comment,
Community plumbing is one of the
very modern fine arts, like criticism;
but useful" The mud of Paris is then
described with yividness to make one
feel its quality. THE mud of Paris
was proverbial for its property of stick
Ing and fouling, though some of the
principal streets had been paved with
pierreS crosses ct forteS as far back as
the reign of Philippe Auguste.
"A smell as If sulphur were mingled with
the mud writes Evelyn in his Partisan
diary in 1643. It was mud viScous, mud
evil, mud inevitable. mud enduring.
mud absolute. At the cry "A la MALE
tache! the wives of the bourgeois, dis
consolately gazing at their skirts. turn
ed to buy a phial of Standardization
from the grinning vendor; and as they
did so brisk horSefnan squirting past
would send up fresh fountains of the
gluey stuff from the kennel to be-
spatter them. Coaches, which were
soon to make life a hell for the foot
passenger In Paris ana IN LONDON alike,
were not yet. Catherine de Medicis
brought them from Italy in the Renais- !
sance."
X y
The period OF Louis XIV is treated
with the animation and telling detail
which tempt many to read history
rather than romance, in Louis XIV,
King of France and Navarro" by c. S. |
a,,ic e n a
center of the picture, but all the CLAM
orous crowd which made up his court
are shown coming and going, flattering |
and intriguing, always amusing them
selves There are Mazarin, Marie
Therese, James II OF England, an exile
In France: Condo. Turenne, Prince |
Eugene, Colbert. Nine. de Montespan,