282 



THE VITAMINES 



* Weekly amount of food. 



THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF BERIBERI 



There is no doubt that a latent form of beriberi does exist (Braddon, 

 I.e. 866). Beriberi symptoms are not infrequently noted, acute 

 for the most part, after a trauma or over-exertion. After an opera- 

 tion, severe fatal manifestations occur in persons who, before the 

 operation, showed no symptoms at all. Acute cases of beriberi occur 

 in soldiers after a long march; light abortive cases are very common. 

 The patients complain of a feeling of heaviness in the legs and of 

 unsteadiness in the knees on walking or standing, so that they 

 frequently collapse. This occurs chiefly in summer months. Very 

 often they complain of palpitation of the heart after an exertion, and 

 of tingling and numbness in the skin of the legs. Skin symptoms in 

 the form of erythema, petechiae, and exanthema are noted. Hem- 

 eralopia belongs to the earlier symptoms; the old therapy (liver) of 

 Hippocrates attains thereby a scientific explanation. Hemeralopia 

 belongs also to the symptomatology of scurvy and pellagra, and may 



