Inorganic Elements of Spinach in the Treat- Ment of Nutritional Anemia.*

Within the last 18 months there have developed two theories concerning the inorganic factors which influence hematopoietic processes. (I) In rats on a basal diet of milk and iron, supplementary copper alone will stimulate a maximum hemoglobin production. (2) On such a diet a group of elements including copper produces a maximum hemoglobin response while copper alone is slightly less effective. By comparing the effect of liver extract, H2S fraction of the extract, and copper sulfate solutions on hemoglobin of rats, Hart and coworkers (1) have concluded that in the milk-iron diet inorganic copper is the only deficiency. However, Titus and coworkers (2, 3) have found that the rapidity of hemoglobin regeneration is greatly increased by the addition of copper-free manganese chloride to the milk-iron-copper diet and that there is a storage in the body of both copper and manganese which is later effective in the utilization of iron. Recently Myers and Beard (4) have reported that nickel, cobalt, and germanium as well as copper are effective in shortening the hemoglobin regeneration period. In attempting to determine whether elements other than iron and copper influence hematopoietic function, it occurred to us that a clue to the proper balance of inorganic constituents might be found in the combination of minerals naturally present in a food generally conceded to be a good blood builder. If a material of natural source which supplies 0.5 mg. of iron and small quantities of other salts would bring about the regeneration of hemo-