PREVIOUS work on the absorption of sugars has shown that the rate of transference of glucose from solutions placed in the lumen of surviving segments of intestine into the outer saline environment is at a maximum at 0*75M concentration [Auchinachie, Macleod and Magee, 1930;Macleod, Magee and Purves, 1930] The experiments on this subject were carried out on (1) nonanaesthetized rats, (2) anesthetized cats, and (3) anmesthetized rabbits.The analytical methods used were: for blood sugar, the HagedornJensen method; for assaying the glucose in solutions or in the contents of the alimentary canal, the Shaffer-Hartmann method. Colloidal iron and sodium sulphate were used for deproteinization.1. Experiments on rats. Cori's technique was employed [Cori, 1925]. Rats were fed by stomach tube 3-4 c.c. 0-75M glucose, or 1-2 c.c. 2M glucose, after a fast of 24 hours preceded by a day of dieting on a little porridge and milk. This procedure resulted in the stomachs of the rats. being empty of all food when killed, so that discards, owing to this not being the case, were very rare. The volume of solution administered was varied in accordance with the size of the rat, so that the amount of sugar fed as 0-75M or as 2M was roughly the same in rats of similar weight. The pipettes used to assay the solutions were the ones used to feed the PH. LXXIII. 11

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The war of 1914-18, and the food problems which then arose, more than any other event in the past 50 years focused attention on the importance of food for health. The stream of new knowledge of nutrition coming in increasing volume from research centres in different parts of the world after 1918 soon began to affect medicine in all its branches, especially public health. By the early 'twenties the discoveries in the physiology of calcium and phosphorus and of vitamin D were having effect on the prevention and treatment of rickets; by the end of the 'twenties the feeding tests of Corry Mann and of Orr and his colleagues' had demonstrated the high nutritive value of milk, and, by inference, many defects in the diets of large numbers of people. Those in charge of the public health were quick to apply these discoveries, and issues of preparations of calcium, vitamin D, and dried milk to mothers and children became a common practice in all welfare centres. The general body of the profession were not behind their colleagues in the public health services.It had to be admitted, however, that the new knowledge of nutrition lacked wholeness, and required integration and syntlhcsis of its various bits and pieces before it could be expected to impress those in control of the health of nations. 1. Productionz of Vegetable Foods.-Account had to be taken of differences in yield of nutritive value per acre for different crops. Potatoes and certain vegetables come high in order of yield, one acre of potatoes yielding, on the average, nearly 50% more calories than one acre of wheat, and one acre of cabbage yielding about as many calories as one acre of wheat. It was therefore very desirable to produce the maximum of potatoes and vegetables. People cannot, however, live on potatoes and vegetables alone, even in wartime, and the demands of farming practice had to be taken into account. In addition, .potatoes and vegetables are our chief native sources of vitamin C, and it was likely that imports of fruit, which was an important source of vitamin C before the war, would have to be restricted.2. Production of Animal Food.-First place had to be given to milk, well called the keystone of the nutritional arch. It was important to prevent production falling as in the last war, and even to increase it if possible. First priority in animal-feeding stuffs was therefore given to dairy cattle, and throughout the war production was fairly well maintained. Taking production in 1936-7 as 100, it was 101 in 1938-9 and 96 in 1944-5. Consumption, however, went up and up during the war, made possible by diverting more and more milk from manufacture to liquid consumption. Another important advantage in giving milk production priority over all other animal foods is that it provides a better return in human food than production of meat or of any other food of animal origin.3a The dairy cow, for instance, converts about 60% of the energy content of its food into energy in the form of milk and meat. The corresponding figure for the beef animal is about 1...

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The purpose of the investigation was to examine the effect of a daily supplement of vitamins in capsule form on the health and development of children living at home and attending day schiools in Stoke-on-Trent and Salford. A similar investigation (Bransby et al., 1944) had been made previously, and the present study was in the nature of a confirmatory test.Literature.-The following review of the literature on the effects of vitamin supplements is limited to those studies in which the supplement was additional to the normal diet, and consequently excludes investigations in which the experimental subjects had diets with restricted vitamin intakes. Further, it does nlot include the study by Frankau (1943) in which a large vitamin dose was given for a few days, as the results may have been due to the pharmacological effect of the vitamins in the suppiement. The studies included in this review can broadly be divided into two-those concerned specifically with infections of the upper respiratory passages, and those dealing with a wider range of conditions. The former have been reviewed by Keefer (1943), who concluded that the available evidence indicates that vitamin therapy has no effect on colds.The studies dealinig with a wider range of conditions are summarized in The ascorbic acid intake found in March, 1944, was raised above the general average for that time of the year owing to a chance distribution of oranges, and it was calculated that without the oranges the average intake would have been of the order of 20-25 mg. per head daily. Although the average intakes of nutrients, except calcium, were generally sufficient, many individual children had intakes which were poor compared with the League of Nations standards. A paper by G. N. Jenkins dealing with the ascorbic acid content of the cooked vegetables eaten by children will shortly be published in the Journzal.Anialysis of Data. Recognized statistical methods were used for comparing the effect of the vitamin and placebo capsules. The standard errors of the initial height and weight, dynamometer pull, bar-time, fatigue potential, and audiometer data, as well as the standard errors of the height and weight increases and the changes in other factors, were calculated by the range method. For the clinical and dental data, account was taken of both the incidence and the severity of the conditions which were included in the examinations. Inspection and analysis of sections of the clinical and dental data showed that the distribution of the various grades of severity among the children could be regarded as a Poisson distribution, and the standard errors of the initial scores and score changes were calculated accordingly. For most of the comparisons the data for boys and girls were treated separately in the three age groups 5-7 years, 8-10 years, and 11 years and over. Considerations of space prevent the inclusion of all but a few of the tables of results.One of the purposes of collecting data on the number of children in the family (classified I or 2, 3, 4, or more), ...