An illustrated lecture on vitamins as chemicals was given last week by Dr. Peter G. Mar, before the science group of the British Universities Society, at the Henry Lester Institute of Medical Research.
A resume of the chemically identified vitamins was given, dealing in each case with the salient features of their nomenclature, occurrence in nature and in foods, conditions caused by their deficiency, history and methods of isolation from natural sources, synthesis, relation between chemical constitution and physiological activity, the provitamins, and allied substances with similar vitamin activities.
Among the newer developments were mentioned the isolation of the pure crystalline vitamins A, E, H, and K, from natural sources, the syntheses of A, E, H, P and P-P.
In conclusion the lecturer stated "vitamins are only another group of organic compounds essential for our daily diet, complex in nature, but not any more complex than many of our carbohydrates and lipoids. They are characterized by their high potency so that minute quantities are neces sary to restore normal physiological functions disturbed. by their absence. In other words they are only organic catalysts and further investigation into their chemistry will strip them of much of the mysterious glamour which now surrounds these vital products, and reduce them to or dinary plebeian simplicity, no more spectacular than the sugar and caf feme in our coffee.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.