emis yy en 
to be written in simple language, so that the 
general public may be made cognisant of 
them. Thus the expression experimental beri- 
beri is more suitable and shows the connec- 
tion between it and human beriberi, allow- 
ing the reader to draw the right kind of 
conclusions and to learn what is of practical 
use to him. 
In August of this year, (1919) I resol- 
ved to make a series of experiments on 
experimental beriberi with the cereals that 
- are used for food in the north and the interior 
of Brazil. Dr. CARLOS CHAGAS was kind 
enough to allow them to be carried out in 
the aviary at Manguinhos. The library and 
the Jaboratories were also placed at my dis- 
posal. 
The cereals chosen for the experiments 
were pclished rice, fresh indian corn sterili- 
sed (1) byindian cornsulphurate of carbon; 
fresh and first class surui flour; mouldy 
Surui flour kept stored for a long time; fari- 
nha d’agua (mandioc flour specially prepa- 
red), polished rice sterilised in the autoclave 
at 1200 during an hour; Surui flour of the 
best quality sterilised in the autoclave at 1200 
during an hour; first class maize-flour steri- 
lised in the same way. 
The object of these experiments was 
first to get to know polynevritis gallinarum 
de visu, by provoking the disease in fowls 
and pigeons and then to verify the analogy or 
the differences between this disease and beri- 
beri in men: secondly) to ascertain the 
quantity of vitamines in Surui flour and in 
mandioc meal and whether the exclusive use 
these substances causes polynevritis galli- 
narum quicker or more slowly than polished 
rice; thirdly) to find out if the sterilization 
processes in use in Rio de Janeiro be 
hurtful to the health ; fourthly) whether length- 
ened sterilisation of nutritive substances or 
their getting old by long storage causes the 
destruction of vitamines thus provoking be 
riberi. 
(1) Indian Corn was supplied by the Empreza Este 
de Cereaes. 
In spite of the fact that the work of AR- 
LINDO DE ASSIS is worthy of all confidence, 
new contribution on the subject may throw 
new light on it, especially on those of its 
aspects which are not absolutely clear; it 
may also resolve some unsolved problems 
concerning the diseases caused by defficien- 
cy. It is enough to mention all there 
is still to be investigated as to the nutritive 
value of the milk used in Rio de Janeiro and 
the sterilized milk used de larga maxima in 
The Amazonas province. 
The high infant mortality amongst us 
must be ascribed as in a great part due to 
the bad quality of food, to the milk deprived 
of its nutritive qualities by being over fro- 
zen or hypersterilised, to the flour of doubt- 
ful nutritive value, especially of that which 
comes from foreign countries and has been 
kept for an unknown lenghth of time. 
l began my observations on the 15th 
of August 1918, chose carefully exami- 
ned, healthy animals, and had their compart- 
ments rigorously desinfected. 
Those on which the ¡experiments were 
to be made came from the same place as the 
witnesses, which were plentifully supplied 
with Indian corn. 
The first group were fowls fed on Ama- 
zonas flour (farinha d’agua), of good quality, 
sterilised at 1200. 
The fowls resisted from the 15th. of Au- 
gust until the 21st of October, without mani- 
festing any symptoms of polyneuritis. They 
lost weight, and lost appetites but showed 
no signs of beriberi. 
My technique was modelled on that of 
WEILL and MOURIQUAND. The animals 
were weighed every day and their food was 
changed and measured also every day. One 
of the fowls was artificially, fed as it would 
not eat, but it died of asphyxia during the 
process. 
The conclusions drawn by me from these 
experiments do not agree with those of 
WALCOTT and ARLINDO DE ASSIS. 
WALCOTT obtained polyneuritis by using 
Amazonas flour, but his experiments lasted 
