Evening star., 1941-09-18
Of Sturs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Laboratory. Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.


new vitamin has been isolated from
green leaves.
1t is also present in extremely minute
amounts, in every tissue of the animal
body.
This was reported before vitamin
symposium at the University of Chicago
yesterday by DR.. Roger j. Williams OF
the University of Texas.
He calls the hitherto unknown sub
stance "folic acid" from the Latin word
for leaf, "folium."
1t fulflls all the chemical requirements
of B vitamins and probably is essential
for life and growth. Its functions are
not yet known. The fact that it is
present in animal tissues indicates that
it must be necessary because there is no
chemical waste in nature.
Biologists have long suspected green
grass vitamin" Cattle turned loose in
the spring show remarkable improve
ment although the hay and grain they
have received during the winter pre-
sumably has contained all the food ele-
ments present in the pasture grass. There
is no assurance, however, that the i'm
provement is due to folio acid.
This has been the history of the re-
Gently discovered members Of the B COM
plex. First they have been found by
chemists. Then they have been identi-
fed in the body. Then their function
has been determined.
The complex now includes eight &C
cepted members:
Thiamn, essential to prevent berlberi
and general nervous breakdoWns.
Nicotine acid-preventative of pei
lagra.
Ribof1avin-preventative of a variety
of human maladies.
Biotin-most powerful of all the vita
minis in promoting growth of micro
organisms. There are only microscopic
amounts of it in the world.
Inositol-preventative of certain forms
of badness in animals.
Pproxidin, essential for life in many
animals.
Pantothenic acid one of the preven-
tatives of gray hair. possibly preven-
tative of degeneration of the adrenal
glands.
A new vitamin which may prevent
other forms of hair craving was an
nounced before the American Chemical
Society last week.
DR.. Williams today extended the known
uses of pantothenic acid when he de-
scribed experiments showing that When
minute amounts are fed to laying hens
| the number of eggs which hatch can be
| increased as much as 80 per cent.
The diet of both chickens and hogs,
he said, probably is deficient in this
! substance There is little of it in corn,
which constitutes a major part Of their
! food
At the same symposium DR.. Tom D.
Spies of the University of Cincinnati,
one of the foremost living authorities on
the B vitamin complex, advocated
practical way for everybody to get an
abundant supply in quick lunches.
This could be brought about, he said,
by a sandwich made of whole-wheat or
vitamin-enriched bread and peanut but
| ter into which has been mixed 20 per cent
| of dried yeast. Such a sandwich, he said,
would contain not only plenty OF vita
| minis but a lot of fats. proteins and
energy supplying starches and sugars.
! An impaired diet, DR.. Spies said, is
! only one way of causing vitamin starVa-
! ton. Sometimes the digestive tract will
not absorb the vitamins in the food and
sometimes the body will not store them.
4
A blood -preSSure-redu substance
has been isolated in relatively pure form
from kidneys.
1t has Just been reported to the
American Chemical Society by Drs.
BENJAMIN Jablons and Isadore Chamelln
of the Welfare Hospital, New York.
| 1t may open a new approach to the
most serious medical problem OF the
age - the heart-brain-circ syn
drome which has become the leading
cause of death in middle age.
1t long has been known, DR.. Jablons
explained, that there are two substances
in normal kidney which counteract each
other. One raises and the other lowers
blood pressure, according to the imme-
| diate needs OF the system
The two chemists have obtained this
blood-pressure antidote in purer state
than it has been obtained hitherto by a
new method of alcohol fractionation.
when properly prepared" DR.. Jab-
Ions said, 1T produces no local reaction
or injury. 1t has been found to neu-
tralize a number of od-pressure-rais'
ing substances manufactured in the
body, such as adrenalin, pituitary ex-
tract, and the substance known as renln
which is obtained from the kidney itself
The substance also lowers the blood
pressure in animals in which hyperten'
sion has been produced by various other
procedures. These procedures represent
methods which reduce the amount OF
functioning kidney tissue by removal
of from three -fourths to five-sixths OF
the total amount of kidney, by cutting
down the blood supply through clamps
placed on the kidney arteries, or by en-
casing the kidney in thick shell OF
scar tissue.
"The use of this material is followed
by a drop in blood pressure which varies
depending on the amount injected. In
most animals this drop does not occur
until from three days to week after
the injection. The effects persist from
one to five days-sometimes for consid-
erably longer periods.
TN some animals and humans the in
| iyo