3IO Vitamines and Deficiency Diseases [June-September 



reported that very little nerve degenerätion occurred in birds, and 

 that most avian cases were cured by rice-polishings, showing, in his 

 opinion, that the paresis is not due to degenerative changes in the 

 nerves. Segawa (5) described two distinct forms of avian beriberi; 

 one, a simple Polyneuritis; a second, more like inanition with 

 marked aversion to a rice diet. He finds, however, that in 66 per- 

 cent of the cases both forms occur together. This investigation was 

 conducted on fowls, some of which remained in good health for 219 

 days on a polished-rice diet, a result that was due, in my opinion, to 

 the probäbility that the animals picked up other food than rice. The 

 most marked pathological changes occurred in the peripheral nerves, 

 in accord with previous findings. Intestinal catarrh, as a secondary 

 Symptom, and degenerätion in the parenchymatous organs, were also 

 observed. The same results were obtained with pigeons. 



Tasawa (4) found that the Symptoms of starvation in birds can 

 be eliminated by adding egg to a polished-rice diet; in this case a 

 picture of pure Polyneuritis is obtained. He confirmed my results 

 showing that cane sugar is able to produce beriberi in birds ; that rice- 

 polishings heated to 120° C. lose their protective power, and that 

 potatoes exert very marked prophylactic action. Eijkman (10) 

 Claims that the disease in fowls :s different f rom that in pigeons, and 

 considers that only fowls develop typical Polyneuritis, He injected a 

 mixture of one part of sodium chlorid and three parts of potassium 

 chlorid (20-40 mg.) into chickens and pigeons, and observed eures 

 in pigeons but not in chickens. I have repeated these experiments 

 with pigeons (Funk 11) and, as one would expect, no eures followed 

 this treatment. 



Cooper (12) has continued his studies of the amounts of food- 

 stuffs which, in addition to polished rice, are able to prevent the 

 onset of the disease. In addition to his previous work on the protec- 

 tive power of muscle, sheep-brain, fish-meat, egg-yolk, lentils and bar- 

 ley, he investigated the foodstuffs named in the summary on p. 311. 

 Portions of these foodstuffs were added to the daily diet. On the 

 basis of the results of these experiments, Cooper concluded that 

 Vitamine alone is not sufficient to induce maintenance of body 

 weight, a conclusion that, as we shall see in the section on the 

 "physiology of vitamines," seems to be entirely erroneous. Gib- 



