THE VITAMIN BANDWAGON

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 223, 1 October 1943, Page 3

THE VITAMIN BANDWAGON

Sir,-In her article on "Soil and Vitamin Values" in The Listener of August 20, Dr. Muriel Bell quoted experiments in which foods grown with artificial fertilisers were not found to be deficient in vitamins as compared with those grown with organic manures. She instanced the Broadbalk experiments and others made by her own department. Why did Dr. Bell omit to state that other experimenters had found foods grown with artificials to be deficient in vitamins? Sir Robert McCarrison found "grain grown with farmyard manure to be rich in vitamins while that grown with artificials was deficient in vitamins" (Journal of Indian Medical Research 14,351, 1926). McCarrison also found that there was an increase in cropping value, higher germination and a better and thicker crop from the soil with farmyard manure, (Mem. to Dept. Agric. India, 1927). Rowlands and Wilkinson (Knightsbridge Laboratories), in actual feeding tests found that rats suffering from a vitamin B deficiency grew steadily worse when fed with seeds grown with artificials. Rapid recovery and normal growth followed a change to seeds grown with animal manure (Biochemical Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1, 1930). Again, has Dr. Bell proof that the tree tomatoes tested for vitamin C and allegedly grown by hydroponics and on compost were actually so grown? If so, has she proof that the compost was properly made? If she has not such proof, Dr. Bell has made an extraordinary departure from scientific practice for materials for such tests are almost invariably grown by or under the direct supervision of the research workers making the tests. Failing such proof, what reputable scientific body would accept Dr. Bell’s results?

E.

SATCHELL

(Auckland).

[Comment by Dr. Bell: "I happen to have read in full the original papers referred to by the Correspondent--not merely the summaries; unfortunately, they do not prove what is claimed for them. I am sure from my knowledge of both McCarrison and of Rowlands that each would have been prepared to admit to-dey the limitations of the technique of experiments done 15 to 20 years ago, and of the conclusions that they drew from them.’’]