208 



THE VITAMIXES 



substance. 8 In order to find an analogy, we may compare an animal 

 on a vitamine free diet with a machine, running without oil. At 

 first the machine operates faultlessly, but gradually trouble arises 

 and then, in due time, greater defects occur which can nevertheless 

 still be corrected by proper oiling. In the end, a condition results 

 which can no longer be be remedied and the machine falls to pieces. 

 In animals, we know only the primary cause, lack of the specific 

 vitamine, similar to the oil in the above mentioned analogy. It 

 still seems tempting to attribute all of the observed phenomena to 

 changes in the central nervous system, but another explanation is 

 that the vitamine might be thought of as the mother substance of an 

 important product of the endocrine glands a conception which we, 

 among others, thought to be plausible and which has again been 

 put forward by Massalongo (540). Another relationship may be 

 seen in the origin of the digestive juices. Lumiere (541) believed 

 that the primary cause of beriberi is to be noted in the lack of secre- 

 tions. The same view was held by Damianowich and Pilado (541a). 

 Other investigators sought for a relationship with the oxidation 

 processes in the body. Dutcher (542) and Dutcher and Collafcz 

 (543) demonstrated a decrease in the catalase in the organs of beriberi 

 pigeons, but almost the same thing was described in starving animals 

 by Burge and Neill (544). Particularly in the observations as to 

 the nature of beriberi, is the picture of this disease somewhat obscured 

 by complication with symptoms of inanition. Jansen (545) studied 



8 The influence of small quantities of vitamines on the metabolism of 

 pigeons is well illustrated in the metabolism studies of Schaumann (I.e. 403). 



The nitrogen balance was positive and the balance of the inorganic con- 

 stituents was likewise improved. The weight of the feces, in comparison 

 with the food intake, showed that the food was utilized much better. 



