THE STARTING-POINT OF MODERN RESEARCH ON VITAMINS

LUNIN, N.

Ueber die Bedeutung der anorganischen Salze für die Ernährung des Thiers. [In Hoppe-Seyler Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie, V. Band, 1. Heft, 1881].

Strassburg, Trübner, 1881. 8vo. Entire volume (V. Band), bound in a nice contemporary half cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Stamps to title-page and old crossed-out numberings. Otherwise a fine and clean copy. Pp. (31) - 56. [Entire volume: (4), 436 pp. + 2 plates).

Scarce first edition of this milestone paper on vitamin research, which constitutes "the starting-point of modern research on vitamins" (G&M), being the first documentation of the existence of dietary factors of the nature of vitamins.

In spite of its groundbreaking character, Lunin's discovery passed almost unnoticed and his foundational conclusions did not convey further investigation until years later. "In 1880 Lunin showed that a synthetic milk diet inhibited the growth of animals. Little attention was paid to this discovery." (PMM 404). It was not until Hopkin's 1912 milestone paper ("Feeding Experiments...") that the scientific explanation of Lunin's observations was produced.

"It is now generally agreed that the first clear evidence, based upon experiment, for the existence of dietary factors of the nature of vitamins came from the school of Bunge at Basel. In 1881 Lunin, one of the workers in that school, fed mice upon an artificial mixture of the separate constituents of milk: of all the constituents, that is, which were then known, namely the proteins, fats carbohydrates, and salts. He found that upon such a mixture the animals failed to survive and was led to conclude that "a natural food such as milk must therefore contain besides these known principal ingredients small quantities of unknown substances essential to life". Such a statement, already half a century old, when allowed to stand out clear and apart from a context which tended to bury it, seems to contain the essentials of what is believed today." (Hopkins, p. 213).

"Working in Bunge's laboratory, Lunin prepared synthetic milk diets and showed that they lacked an unknown factor necessary for animal growth, and that animals cannot live on a chemically pure (i.e. vitamin-free) diet. This was the starting-point of modern research on vitamins." (Garrison & Morton).

Garrison & Morton: 1042.

See:
Sir F.G. Hopkins: The Earlier History of Vitamin Research. In: Nobel Lectures. Physiology or Medicine. 1922-1941. Nobel Foundation, 1999.

Order-nr.: 48584