312 Vitamines and Deficiency Diseases [June-September 



dogs, cats, goats, rabbits, guinea-pigs, mice, rats and horses and 

 cows. In these animals beriberi has not yet been produced — it 

 occurs only in animals in which uric acid is the terminal product of 

 purin metabolism (e. g., birds and man). It is undoubtedly true 

 that "deficiency" diseases of great practical importance occur in 

 cattle. These diseases, which are chiefly found in cows and are 

 called "lamziekte" (and perhaps "stijfziekte") in South Africa, 

 rickets in Australia and Stallmangel in Germany, resemble rickets 

 and osteomalacia more closely than beriberi. 



The problem of " lamziekte " is so important f or South Africa 

 that a special research laboratory was created a few years ago, 

 under the direction of Dr. Theiler, to investigate this disease from 

 the view point of avitaminosis. A clinical description of the 

 disease appears in my book. A disease similar to " lamziekte " was 

 described by Scheunert, Schattke and Lötsch (i8), and by Lötsch 

 (19), in horses and cattle in poor districts of the mountainous 

 region in Saxony, where in winter only very poor and restricted 

 diets are available for these animals. The disease called "Stall- 

 mangel/' which closely resembles rickets and osteomalacia, is a very 

 serious metabolic disease, with pathological changes in the bones. 

 The fodder fed to these animals was very deficient in calcium, mag- 

 nesium and phosphorus, but Scheunert is inclined to consider that 

 this disease is due to deficiency of vitamines 



Oseki (20), in Hofmeister's laboratory, investigated the food 

 value of different restricted diets in mice. When put on wheat bread 

 or on barley, a cereal frequently used in infants' food, the mice 

 died in 20 days, without special Symptoms and without any sign of 

 fatty degeneration in the nerves. On maize flour they lived 60 days. 

 Whole meal rj^e bread was excellent food for mice, whereas oat 

 meal, and meal prepared from peas and beans, were not satisfactory. 

 When rye meal was extracted with water, the total extract very 

 rapidly improved the condition of diseased mice, but the ash from 

 the extract had only a slight beneficial effect. Extraction of rye 

 meal with alcohol or ether had less deleterious efifect on its food 

 value than extraction with water; extraction with acetone was also 

 without effect. By fractionation of milk, the protective substances 

 were found in the buttermilk but not in the butter. Tachau (21), 



