Vitamin A, as Determined by the Blue Units of the Antimony Trichloride Test, in the Livers of Malnourished Children

Carr and Price (1926) originally described a jnethod of determining the amount of vitamin A by the use of antimony trichloride. A quantity of the liver, or other organ, to be tested was dried and extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus, and j^test carried out with the extract. This is a tedious procedure when large numbers of tests ^re being done, and Moore (1930) modified it by dissolving the samples in 5 per cent caustic Potash and shaking this up with a little alcohol, ar|d extracting the fats and vitamin A by adding ether and shaking the mixture. When working in a hot and damp climate special precautions must be taken to prevent the Presence of moisture in the final extract. The method which has been followed is that described by Davies (1933) with a few small Modifications