Experimental Beriberi and Beriberi in Man, with special reference 
to its forms, as observed in Amazonas 
by 
DR. FIGUEIREDO RODRIGUES. 
(With Plates 34-36). 
The etiology of beriberi is still a matter 
of controversy amongst us. The greatest di- 
vergence of opinion reigns with regard to 
many of its clinical phenomena. This being 
the case, any contribution, however modest, 
to the solution of this important problem of 
nosology is of the greatest interest. Conse- 
quently [ thought that my cooperation in the 
analysis of the problem might be of some 
use, especially as the results given here are 
those of clinical observation and experimen- 
tai work. 
The disease is frequent in tropical regi- 
ons, and takes a prominent place in the 
archives of our medical history, not only be- 
cause it wrought havoc amongst our soldiers 
in the Paraguay campaign, but as it still causes 
a great mortality on board our men-of-war 
and amongst the heroic pioneers in the un- 
cultivated lands and fields in the north of 
Brazil. Therefore, I feel constrained to spare 
no trouble or painstaking in the study of 
this scourge. 
It was unquestionably only after the 
epidemic in Bahia, in 1864, that the attention 
of medical men in the New World was called 
to beriberi. The foremost place of honour 
undoubtedlv belongs to SILVA LIMA, one 
of the very first to study the disease from 
the clinical point of view. The name of SILVA 
LIMA must be mentioned with pride and 
esteem, as that of a pioneer in studying be- 
riberi or even of its rediscoverer, 200 years 
after it had been mentioned as a Brazilian 
disease by WILLEM PISON in his work 
“De Medicina Braziliensi” published in Hol- 
land in 1864. 
From the time of SILVA LIMA up to 
the present date, many of our compatriots 
have contributed to the study of the clinical 
symptoms of this disease, and TORRES HO- 
MEM brings the value of Brazilian studies 
into relief, while making a special reference 
to the work of the great Bahian doctor. 
[ cannot pass over this interesting 
chapter of pathology, nor forget that it is 
my duty to take part in the debates which 
followed the experimental work of EIJK- 
MAN. Such studies have thrown so much 
light upon the subject, and called forth so 
many magnificent experiments and observa- 
tions in the Orient, that we might almost 
conclude that all problems were solved, as 
well from the clinical as from the experimen- 
