Elements such as iron, copper, cobalt, manganese, iodine, selenium, etc., are required by plants and animals in very small quantities and are termed trace elements. The importance of the inorganic salts will be understood from the fact that salt starvation causes death much earlier than food starvation. Although the salts give no energy yet they are essential for our life. [...]
The control factors of mineral metabolism is a very complicated phenomenon. In the unicellular animals the mechanism is relatively simple and is probably carried out by adjusting the permeability of the cell membrane. But in the higher animals and human beings, although this primitive system persists, yet a lot of other factors have stepped in, as a result of which, [...]
It has been noted that the salts are more important for our life than food. Salt starvation will bring about an earlier death than food starvation. In animals natural salt deficiency never takes place, enough being present in food. In man also total salt deficiency is never seen under natural conditions but partial deficiency or deficiency of individual elements or [...]