16 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



supply, and many conditions are abnormal. The work will be 

 pushed as rapidly as possible. 



MANUFACTTJRE OF TIQUI-TIQUI EXTRACT 



Under the provisions of Act No. 2376 the Bureau of Science 

 has continued its work of preparing extract of tiqui-tiqui for 

 the treatment of infantile beriberi. A stock has been continually 

 kept on hand, and that prepared up to the close of the year 

 was probably sufficient to treat nearly 6,000 infants. The Liga 

 Nacional Filipina para la Proteccion de la Primera Infancia 

 submitted its report on October 15, 1916, from which I quote 

 the following: 



During this year the extract prepared by the Bureau of Science has kept 

 in much better condition than that prepared during the preceding year. 

 The organoleptic character of the extract and its keeping qualities could 

 not have been improved. * * * From October 16, 1915, to October 15, 

 1916, 4,967 fifty cc. bottles of extract and 39 one cc. ampuls for hypodermic 

 use have been obtained from the Bureau of Science, that is, 1,193 bottles 

 more than that obtained last year. * * * 



In the acute forms the mortality during this year has been only 85.7 per 

 cent due to the injection of the extract, instead of 100 per cent as hereto- 

 fore. * * * 



Theoretically no children suffering from beriberi that are treated in time 

 with a sufficient dose of extract of tiqui-tiqui should die. As a matter of 

 fact, our mortality does not reach 1.5 per cent and even this small percentage 

 of mortality is due to the fact that the little patients do not reach us until 

 it is too late, almost at the dying stage, when the medicine has no time to 

 exert its beneficial influence. 



Nevertheless, if we review the statistics of the Philippine Health Service, 

 it would be observed that in spite of our work the mortality among children 

 under one year of age due to beriberi continues to be what it has always 

 been, that is, its proportion compared with the total number of deaths of 

 children in the city of Manila is not less than 35 per cent. * * * 



This is probably due to the fact that the mothers do not call a doctor 

 for the proper treatment of their beriberic children and, secondly, to the 

 fact that the doctor either does not diagnose correctly or uses an extract 

 which does not possess the qualities which our experience has sanctioned.^ 



REORGANIZATION ACT No. 2666 



An Act of the First Session of the Fourth Philippine Legisla- 

 ture to take effect on its approval to reorganize the Executive 

 Departments of the Government of the Philippine Islands was 

 approved on November 18, 1916. This Act transferred the 

 Bureau of Science from the Department of the Interior. In 

 part it reads as follows: 



Sec. 7. Bureaus and offices under the Department of Agriculture and 

 Natural Resources. — The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources 



^ Translated from the Spanish. 



