HELP TO SIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 February 1939, Page 9

HELP TO SIGHT

MOTORISTS NEED VITAMIN A. SOME RECENT DISCOVERIES.

Leading scientists and industrialists meeting at Burlington House, Piccadilly. London, heard, for the first time, from research workers of a new process by which supplies of vitamins are being obtained in Britain from material which might otherwise be wasted. ' They were told also of the danger oi "night blindness" among motorists, caused through lack of vitamin "A" in the normal diet. The new process, which is said to offer great possibilities in numerous industries, was the subject of a conference arranged by the London Section and Chemical Engineeing Group of the Society of Chemical Industry. The new process, it was explained, utilised a recently discovered pheno-

rnenon known as "molecular distillation," which had previously been possible only on a small scale in the laboratory. This form of distillation overcame the difficulty of concentration by boiling, which, even under greatly lowered pressures. largely destroyed the vitamins. In the new process the vitamins, instead of being boiled off from the original oils, were evaporated more slowly and at lower temperatures. DANGER Tt> MOTORISTS. The discovery made it no longer necessary to depend upon the limited supply of cod fish and halibut for vitamin "A." Now the livers of most of the fish taken from the sea, instead | of being wasted, could be used. Almost equally important was the fact that by this method a highly purified substance, free from all unpalatable oily base, was now available. Production of vitamin “A" would be possible in such large quantities that the whole population from birth upwards might be provided with an essential vitamin for the maintenance of health.

On the importance of vitamin "A" in national diet, it was pointed out that one of the earliest symptoms of a deficiency was "night blindness" —diminished ability to see in dim light, or in dim light after exposure to dazzling lights. Motorists suffering in this way might not only have subnormal vision at night, but be practically "blind" after being exposed to the bright lights of an oncoming car. This might well be a contributory cause of accidents at night,