206 THE VITAMINES 



mine, second, by measures which will suddenly mobilize the reserve 

 vitamirie present in organs and tissues. As regards spontaneous 

 cures, which we personally have not seen (but which seem to be 

 plausible), occurring ostensibly in starvation, we may explain them 

 by the catabolism of the tissues and the consequent liberation of the 

 vitamine. Every substance, having pharmacological action, which 

 stimulates metabolism may also contribute to the above-mentioned 

 action. 



Eijkman (532) stated that pigeons, used by us for the demonstra- 

 tion of vitamine B, were not suitable for this purpose, since they 

 show a different behavior from chickens. He maintained that a 

 mixture of potassium chloride and sodium chloride (3:1) in doses of 

 20 to 40 mgm. can cure beriberi in pigeons, but not in chickens. We 

 (533) tested this out on pigeons, but could not corroborate Eijk- 

 man. In spite of this, we note that his findings are frequently 

 quoted in the literature. Later, we showed (534) that certain purine 

 and pyrimidine derivatives exerted a life-prolonging action on pigeons 

 fed on rice. This observation was confirmed by some, Williams and 

 Saleeby (I.e. 472), and refuted by others. Since these products are 

 frequently not indifferent pharmacologically, their behavior, as 

 described above, may perhaps be explained in that light. Cooper 

 (535 and 536) found that quinine and strychnine exhibited a definite 

 action on experimental beriberi. Later, he showed that quinine 

 contained vitamine as an impurity; as for the action of strychnine 

 it may be explained by its effect on the metabolism. Abderhalden 

 and Lampe (I.e. 25) stated that castor oil had a curative effect, but 

 later on Abderhalden and Ewald (537) reported that they could not 

 confirm the earlier finding. They believed, however, that vitamine 

 B was analogous to B-imidazolethylamine. Dutcher (I.e. 276) 

 investigated the behavior of thyroid, thyroxin (chemically pure 

 active substance of thyroid), tethelin (lipoid from the hypophysis) 

 and pilocarpine and found that these substances have a therapeutic 

 effect on beriberi. Pilocarpine was found inactive by Abderhalden 

 and Ewald; thyroid was regarded as inactive by Vedder and Clark 

 (I.e. 266). Seaman (537a), on the contrary, could demonstrate the 

 presence of vitamine B in thyroid. Inasmuch as thyroid substance 

 acts as a powerful stimulus to the metabolism, the mobilization of 

 the vitamine from the tissues may, under certain circumstances, 

 simulate a curative action, although we convinced ourselves that 



