( 904 ) 
Bacteriology. — ‘“Acetifying air- and ricebacteria the cause of 
Polyneuritis gallinarum”. By J. H. F. Koursrueer. (Commu- 
nicated by Prof. C. H. H. Spronck). 
(Communicated in the meeting of Januari 28, 1911). 
The above title is at the same time a hypothesis which I intend 
to prove in the following pages. 
It is a fact generally known and acknowledged that the discovery 
of Polyneuritis gallinarum by Ekman, classified the so mysterious 
Beri-beri in general with those phenomena that can be elucidated 
by experimental investigation. That Polyneuritis gallinarum belongs 
to the same group of diseases that includes human Beri-beri was 
likewise acknowledged by nearly all investigators; consequently 
experiments with poultry were made in order to learn how to fight 
the human disease. 
By following the way taken by ElkKMAN, many investigators have 
brought to light a great number of facts, and yet the causa movens 
of the disease continued to be as mysterious as before, whosoever 
supposed that he had discovered it, might be sure that asubsequent 
investigator would declare it to be harmless. 
In 1901 I was experimenting in Prof. Eukman’s laboratory about 
the autosterilization of the small intestine, and, as EKMAN was at 
the same time engaged in experiments regarding Beri-beri, this induced 
me, in order to study the intestine-flora of chickens, to examine, 
for economy’s sake, the intestines of those chickens thad had died 
of Polyneuritis gallinarum. As I examined however likewise some 
chickens that had been killed, I soon remarked that the intestine- 
flora and the intestine-sapreaction of these two groups of animals showed 
very apparent differences. Since that time I became convinced that 
the Beri-beriproblem should be studied from the intestines of poultry. 
Several investigators indeed have pointed out that presumably Beri- 
beri is caused by poisons formed, during digestion, by micro-organisms 
in the intestinal canal‘). It was however astonishing that nobody 
consequently chose the intestines and their flora as point of issue, 
and that, if this was oceasionally done (DusrurL, Wrient it had 
no result whatever. 
On account of my return to Java I could not continue my inves- 
tigations, but constantly, there and afterwards in Europe, I har- 
boured the design of applying this method of investigation. Not 
1) EUKMAN, LAOH, MAURER, WRIGHT, HERZOG, JEANSELME, VAN GORKOM. 
