Abstract
The fat-soluble factor, vitamin A, although not yet isolated in pure form and although totally unknown until the last decades, has held the attention of clinicians, through the manifestations of its deficiency, since the earliest times. Night blindness, one of the first symptoms of avitaminosis A, was known to Hippocrates, and the beneficial results of a liver diet in the treatment of this disorder were described by Paul of Aegina. 1 The more advanced symptom complex, keratomalacia, was not described until the middle of the last century, however, Brown 2 in 1827 and Fischer 3 in 1846 being credited with having given the first descriptions. Arlt 4 in 1851 also described the condition, and in 1862 Bitot 5 linked hemeralopia with xerosis of the conjunctivae. Complete descriptions of the disease were first given by da Gama Lobo 6 in 1864 and by von Graefe 7 in 1866. The relationship of
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