VITAMIN B {B,) 79 



that no nerve regeneration is possible in the course of a few hours, and that the 

 nervous symptoms, vanishing so rapidly under the action of vitamin B or even 

 disappearing spontaneously, must be due to a quite different cause. There is no 

 logical impediment, however, in assuming that the paralytic form of pigeon's 

 beriberi which is not curable or very hardly curable by vitamin administration 

 may be associated with nerve degeneration." 



As noted by Kon and Drummond, a connection between vitamin B 

 and carbohydrate metabolism has been suggested by various investi- 

 gators inchiding Funk and von Schonborn (1914), Funk (1919), 

 Randoin and Leiesz (1925) largely because of hyperglycemia observed 

 in pigeons on vitamin B-deficient diets. Collazo (1922), who also ob- 

 served this phenomenon, found the same hyperglycemia to be present 

 in starving pigeons. Collazo's observations were confirmed in the pres- 

 ent study where no appreciable difference could be noted in the blood 

 sugar level of the two groups of pigeons. The average in both groups 

 was somewhat higher than normal, a difference attributed to inanition. 

 Drummond and Marrian in their study with rats had confirmed the 

 observations of Eggleton and Gross (1925) that in vitamin B de- 

 ficiency in rats the blood sugar level is above normal until the final 

 stage of the disorder when a definite hypoglycemia takes place. A few 

 experiments with growing rats indicated the same hyperglycemia fol- 

 lowed by hypoglycemia. 



A repetition of the work of Farmer and Redenbaugh (1925a) 

 failed to confirm their reported findings of a complete loss of amylolytic 

 and decrease of proteolytic enzymes in pigeons on a B-deficient diet, 

 but showed clearly that the digestion of starch is normal. 



In reviewing their experimental observations, Kon and Drummond 

 state that : "The actual food intake of a pigeon from which vitamin B 

 is withheld, be it forcibly fed or partaking freely of the diet, is greatly 

 diminished, but the ingested quantum is metabolized just as completely 

 as in a pigeon receiving liberal amounts of vitamin B in the form of 

 yeast extract ; and this is true even in the stage of the deficiency disease 

 where the characteristic convulsions appear. The similarity of the curves 

 for food intake and body weight, the similar rates of passage of a meal 

 through the intestines, the blood-sugar levels and composition of the 

 feces all support this view. Furthermore, it is believed that the di- 

 minished food intake and subsequent partial starvation are suf^- 

 cient to explain any hyperglycemia encountered in vitamin B-deficient 

 pigeons." 



A suggested explanation of the spontaneous cures, which have been 

 noted in this and other investigations as of frequent occurrence, is a 

 liberation of the reserves of vitamin B in the tissues during periods 



