Zinc in Relation to Hygiene.--CECIL K. DRINKER AND LAWRENCE T. FAIRHALL (Public Health Rep., I933, XLVIII,) consider that an upper permissible limit of 5 parts of zinc per million in drinking water is too low ; a limit of 30 parts per million is suggested. In water, zinc salts reveal their presence by an unpleasant, astringent taste before the concentration is sufficient to irritate the stomach. However, foods and beverages should not be stored in zinclined or galvanized containers. If the food or beverage has an acid reaction, zinc will be dissolved to form simple compounds which are gastric irritants, and their taste may be concealed by that of the food. In the industries, the condition known as "zinc chill" or "metal fume fever" may be produced not only by inhalation of zinc oxide but also by inhalation of oxides or finely divided powders of other metals, hence is not specific. So-called chronic industrial zinc poisoning is not due to zinc but to other substances which contaminate the zinc.
J. S. H.
Anticipation of Vitamins.--An editorial in the Am..lour. Pharmacy (I934, CVI, 4.2-43) calls attention to the anticipation of vitamins by JOHN URI LLOYD in a lecture delivered in I878. Lloyd then stated that certain edible plants, such as lettuce, the bulbs and tops of young onions, and early vegetables, contain substances, then designated supportives, which impart to them antiscorbutic properties, and render them of great value in the diet. This was an anticipation of the antiscorbutic vitamin water-soluble C. Lloyd also stressed the value of foods containing chlorophyl in the diet. Today the relationship of chlorophyl to the metabolism of iron is clearly recognized. J. S. H.