Dr. McKeen Cattell: We have for our topic this morning vitamin therapy with special reference to vitamin B2. Dr. Rhoads, from the Rockefeller Institute, has kindly come over to lead the discussion.
Dr. C. P. Rhoads: Last year when the therapeutic use of vitamins was discussed before this group it became clear that so broad a topic could not be presented adequately in a single conference. It has seemed wise, therefore, to limit this discussion to a single phase of the problem and to consider only those effects of the deficiency of vitamin B2 (the heat-stable, water-soluble B complex) which are concerned with pernicious anemia, sprue and pellagra.
As a matter of historical interest it should be recalled that our first definite information concerning the vitamin B complex came from the work of Takaki, a Japanese naval surgeon, who made the significant observation that beriberi was particularly common