5. Traditional observation has shown 
that the best remedy for beriberi is the re- 
moval of the patient from the centre where 
he contracted the disease; a half-dead patient 
embarks here and arrives quite well in Europe 
or in Buenos-Ayres; this feat is not compa- 
tible with the idea that he has had an ali- 
mentary intoxication, because, even changing 
his diet, he would have died if he had been 
left where he contracted the disease. (1) 
6. Traditional experience has also proved 
“that, even if the patient be cured, he may 
have a relapse, if he returns to the place 
where he fell ill, although he may eat no rice, 
whereas, if he remains away, there will be no 
relapse. 
7. The rice furnished to the Navy is the 
same for one and all, and some vessels are 
more devastated than others, though the 
same store purveys rice to all. It is certain- 
ly the prisoners in the gaols who suffer most. 
8. The rice sent to the troops in the 
Paraguayan war was the same as that con- 
sumed by |the civilians who admired the 
valour of their compatriots from afar; these 
latter enjoyed good health while the soldiers 
were victimised in numbers by this fell disea- 
se. The same will be said by the Japanese, 
who lost 80, or (according to some opinions) 
150 thousand soldiers in the with kussia 
war, who also ate the same rice as those 
who stayed at home. 
9. Finally, my patient always eat about 
the same amount of the same kind of rice, 
and only fell ill once, whilst all the rest of 
his family ware in the same condition. 
Carried away by the logic of these ar- 
guments MIGUEL COUTO concludes thus: 
“The disease by which our patient is 
attacked, is the same as the disease reigning 
in India and Japan under the name of beri- 
beri. PATTERSON and SILVA thought they 
had discovered itin Bahia in 1894; the cause 
of the former is now discovered but that 
Note 1. Observations mado by AUSTREGESILO, 
MEIRELLES and myself (in Amazonas) prove that is is 
possible to cure beriberi in loco, if the symptons are 
not yet fatal. 
106 ——— 
of ours is not. We erred therefore in the 
interpretation. Our beriberi is not beriberi.” 
We admit the plausibility of these argu- 
ments, until it was found that it is not only 
polished rice that causes the illness. Now 
we know that all cereals contain vitamities 
which can be destroyed by various conditions, 
as is proved by the experiments of SCHAU- 
MANN, of SHIGA and others. The food 
may seem to be perfectly good and yet for 
multiple causes the protective substance may 
have been destroyed, and thus the food may 
have lost its most important biological qua- 
lities. 
Latterly, new studies have shown that 
prolonged sterilisation deprives it of the pro- 
perties indispensable for perfect nutrition 
and to the development of the organism. 
SCHAUMANN saw beans enclosed in 
glass jars in Hamburg in a laboratory, 
looking as if they were quite perfectly pre- 
served, but they had lost the power of curing 
polyneuritis gallinarum, which the;same kind 
of beans possess when fresh. 
ARLINDO DE ASSIS proved that beans 
sold on the Bahia market were defficient and 
deprived of their preventive substance against 
experimental beriberi. 
It is a fact that all the beans imported 
in the State of Amazonas for the use of the 
men employed on rubber plantations come 
“roasted” as a preventive against weewils. 
The observations made by JAYME SIL- 
VADO in 1907 do away with the objections 
made against the superior quality of the 
food furnished to the Navy. 
Amore or less uniform diet kept on for 
a long time, becomes defficient; the first sign 
the disease is want of appetite; the defficiency 
grows from day to day, provoking all the most 
grave symptoms. Asa proof of this, we need 
only cite the beriberi attacking the British 
troops at Kut-el-Amara. For this reason, in 
the beginning the patients may be cured by 
sending them on a journey, thus changing 
their food entirely. 
In the East the problem is very difficult 
on account of the numerous poor people, 
but here no such dificulty exists. Except 
