Evening star., 1948-09-17
Stars, Men and Atoms
New Vitomin Reported
Added to the B Family
Essential to Lives of Lower Animals, (,
Function Among Humans Unknown
By Thomas r. Henry

Function Among Humans Unknown
By Thomas r. Henry
Still another vitamin has been added to the
rapidly growing family.
1t can be obtained as . hltrate from either
yeast or liver and appears essential to the
lives Of certain lower animals. It's function
among higher organisms remains unknown
The new substance Is known q the C)
vitamin-the IT" standing for tenebria, the
meal worms that first demonstrated . need
for 1t. The discovery Is reported by DR..
George Frankel OF the Imperial College N
Sciences.
In order to rear these little creatures saccsss-
fully, it was found, the diet must contain eight
Of the well-known B vitamins, folio acid which
has proved 20 potent In treatment Of ansmias,
and this hitherto unknown factor.
With the eight basic vitamins but without
folio acid and the new Bt the meal worms
grew very slowly and the death rate was very
high. When folio acid alone was added the
growth rate was greatly increased, but % was
the death rate. BIT alone stopped the high
mortality, but only in massive doses did It
appear to have any effect on growth.
Substances Obtained.
Recently at Cornell University two elusive
CooceoAASCc AAaFC UCCu OOIdA1lcQ 1TOm 0T6WeT .
yeast which are necessary for the growth of
chickens. One, the so-called factor has
much the same effects as the new vitamin and
at nrst DR.. Frankel believed the two might
be Identical But the Cornell workers found
that there were considerable amounts Of s in
casein, basic protein of curdled milk and
cheese. Addition Of casein to their diet did
not improve the mortality Of the meal worms.
Bt Is effective In extremely small amounts.
It has been impossible to determine its exact
effect In prolongng life and there always In
the possibility that its value Is confined to one
kind of animals. This, however, has not yet
proved to be the case in vitamin research. An
essential substance usually proves necessary
for all life from bacteria to man.
There is q high probability, Of course, that
the average human or animal gets enough Of
1t In any diet and that additions would bs
supernuous.
A device for obtaining q continuous record Of
the body temperature Of . human being for
as much Is "a hours has Just been reported
to the American Association for the Advance
ment Of Science here
Any sort OF clinical thermometer Of course,
gives the body heat only at the time when the
temperature Is taken. There Is no knowledge
OF its ups and downs ut other times, although
such observations might have considerable
clinical value.
Worn Like Hearing Aid.
In the method reported by Drs. Roger J.
Williams and Roy G. Thompson Of the Uni
versity OF Texas an extremely delicate electrical
thermometer is placed in the external canal
Of the ear. It Is worn like . hearing aid.
Through this device . minute electric current
flows, the resistance to which is varied by any
increase or decrease In temperature. An auto.
matte recording device Is included In the
apparatus
1t can be worn all the time, ths two Texas
scientists report, without causing any discom.
fort The continuous recording goes On
whether the subject Is awake or asleep. Uss
has been limited thus far to one individual
who volunteered for the experiment It was
found that the temperature In the auditory
canal was generally about = quarter degree
centierade below that obtained with clinical
thermometer placed under the tongue.
The device should be Of special value, 1t n
claimed, in studies Of temperature variations
during different types Of activities, the effects
Of various changes In the diet and the time
required to return to normal