286 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECOED. 



" Undermined rice may be stored for 1 year in a damp place without losing 

 its protective powers against polyneuritis gallinarum. It is improbable there- 

 fore that a rice which originally affords protection against beri-beri will lose 

 this property by storage even in damp places. . . . 



" The therapeutic properties of an alcoholic extract of rice polishings are 

 greatly altered by hydrolysis (treatment with 5 per cent hydrochloric or sul- 

 phuric acid). The unhydrolyzed extract is not poisonous and is only slowly 

 curative. The h3^drolyzed extract is exceedingly poisonous in large doses and 

 promptly curative in small doses. 



" We have confirmed Funk's observations by isolating a crystalline base from 

 an extract of rice polishings by Funk's method. This base in doses of 30 mg. 

 promptly cured fowls suffering from polyneuritis gallinarum. . . . 



"Two groups of substances (purin bases, cholin-like bases) may be isolated 

 from rice polishings in addition to Funk's base and are capable of partly or 

 wholly protecting fowls fed on polished rice against polyneuritis gallinarum, 

 but are incapable of curing fowls that have already develojjed the disease. The 

 chemical nature of these two groups of bases requires further investiga- 

 tion. . . . 



"It is probable that this base [Funk's base] or vitamin exists in food as a 

 pyrimidin base combined as a constituent of nucleic acid, but that it is not 

 present in the nucleins or nucleic acids that have been isolated by processes in- 

 volving the use of alkalis or heat." 



The authors regard their results as affording striking and confirmatory evi- 

 dence for the hypothesis which has been previously advanced that wet beri-beri 

 and dry beri-beri are two distinct conditions, each being caused by the de- 

 ficiency of a separate vitamin. 



Other conclusions have to do chiefly with the chemical characteristics of the 

 vitamins and clinical experience. 



The use of milk cultures of B. bulgaricus in the prevention and treatment 

 of bacillary white diarrhea of young cliicks, L. D. Bushnell and O. Maureb 

 {Amer. Vet. Rev., U (1913), No. 2, pp. i94-207).— Following a general review 

 of the subject the authors report feeding experiments with Bacillus l)ulgaricus 

 and B. pullorum, which they consider, demonstrate the effectiveness of milk 

 cultures of B. hulgaricus in this disease. 



The treatment of fowl cholera with quinin, Hallenbeeger (Arch. Schiffs u. 

 Tropen Hyg., 11 {1913), No. 13, pp. 466, 467).— The author has found the 

 injection of 0.5 gm. quinin bimuriate to give good results both as a therapeutic 

 and prophylactic agent. 



A list of current medical periodicals and allied serials (Chicago: John 

 Crerar Library, 1913, 2. ed., pp. 32). — ^A list of medical periodicals which deal 

 both with human and veterinary medicine. 



RURAL ENGINEERING. 



Irrigation from reservoirs in western Kansas and Oklahoma (U. 8. Senate, 

 62. Cong., 3. Sess., Doc. 1021, 1913, pp. 54, pis. S, figs. 10). — This document, 

 prepared by R. D. Robertson and ^. T. Harding, reports investigations of the 

 feasibility and economy of irrigation from reservoirs in the 18 western counties 

 of Kansas and the 2 western counties of Oklahoma, lying west of the line of 

 20 in. mean annual rainfaU. A general reconnaissance was made, and 5 sites, 2 

 of them large, were surveyed in Kansas. 



It is concluded that while neither time nor funds were available for a 

 thorough investigation of the storage possibilities of these 2 sections, such op- 

 portunities as were found for irrigation development by storage are not promis- 



