The connection of beriberi and vitamine B is as close as ever, so that nothing that has been said on beriberi needs modification. "Beriberi," writes Dr. Hess, "is the main factor in the exceedingly high infant mortality in the Philippines, leading to a death rate in the city of Manila of 430 out of every 1000 infants under one year of age. The preventive of beriberi is the water soluble vitamine (vitamine B), which is furnished in high concentration in brewer's yeast, a by-product of the brewing industry. Yet this high mortality is allowed to continue unabated in spite of the fact that the country is under a stable, civilized government."

Dr. Emmett has made the suggestion that the antineuritic vitamine (the one that cures beriberi) is not identical with the water-soluble B vitamine, for the following reasons: "The antineuritic vitamine - the one, that is to say, that cures polyneuritics (the equivalent of beriberi) in birds - in unmilled rice is stable to heat at 120 degrees centigrade and 15 pounds pressure for one hour. It is partially altered by heating in the air oven at 120 degrees for two hours, and totally destroyed at 120 degrees and 15 pounds pressure in six hours. On the other hand, the water-soluble B vitamine - the one that stimulates growth in rats - in unmilled rice appears to be stable to heat at these same temperatures; that is, it is not distinctly or totally broken down."

Yet another interesting possibility has been thrown out by Dr. Funk. He believes that he has evidence which points to the fact that vitamine B is really a mixture of two vitamines, which he proposes to call vitamine B and vitamine D. The evidence for this is as follows: if we treat a yeast extract (containing vitamine B) with Fuller's earth, the B is absorbed, as shown by the fact that the unabsorbed portion no longer has the power to cure pigeons suffering from polyneuritis, or to promote growth in rats kept on a "synthetic diet" devoid of B. However, the unabsorbed portion stimulates the growth of yeast cells. Now a number of experimenters have pointed out the fact that vitamine B stimulates the growth of yeast, and in fact a number of rather unsuccessful attempts have been made to develop a quantitative method for the estimation of vitamine B, based on its action on yeast. If Dr. Funk's work is confirmed, we would be led to believe that it is not the vitamine B, but a vitamine mixed with it, that stimulates the growth of yeast cells. To this new factor Funk has given the name "vitamine D."

A number of workers on vitamines, among them Drs. Williams and Seidell, are now busy extending Funk's attempts at isolating vitamine B (see pages 123-4); so far little progress has been made, newspaper reports to the contrary notwithstanding.

An interesting observation by MacCarrison, an English physician working in India, should be noted, since it links vitamines with ductless glands. He found that animals suffering from vitamine B deficiency show an enlargement of the adrenal glands, and an increase of the adrenaline content, though the other ductless glands become smaller. It would seem, as if there is some peculiar connection between the absence of vitamine B and the increase of adrenaline in the gland. (References: A. D. Emmett and G. O. Luros, Journal of Biological Chemistry, volume 43, page 265, 1920; C. Funk, Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, volume 13, page 1110, 1921; K. R. Williams, Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, volume 13, page 1107, 1921; A. Seidell, Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, volume 13, page 1111, 1921.)