49 



that are liiglily conducive to (he building- up of Ihe animal body, 

 nay are even indispensable for its health and growth, viz. ihe so- 

 called accessory foodstulFs or vitamins. 



Here I refer to a paper read by me (E.) some 20 years ago on a 

 fowl's disease (polyneuritis gallinarum) attended wilii degeneration 

 of the peripheral nerves and motory disturbances arising from a 

 polished-rice diet, and resulting in death within a few days, unless 

 another diet was had recourse lo. When tlie fowl was fed on un- 

 polished rice, or when polishings were added again to the peeled rice, 

 the disease could be prevented, or, if it had already broken out, it 

 could be cured. It appeared namely, that the rice-{)olishings contained 

 ingredients which, being diffusible, could be readily extracted with 

 water and possessed the same prophylactic and remedial property 

 as the polishings themselves. 



The fowl's disease, which can also be produced in other birds 

 (pigeons, rice-birds) in the manner described, shows in many respects 

 a close resemblance to beri-beri, and the researches by Vorderman, 

 and many others after him, demonstrated that much of what was 

 brought forward for the one was also applicable to the other. 



It must be especially remembered that what has been said regarding 

 rice, also holds for other kinds of grain. Fowls develop the disease, 

 when fed on boltered meal, but not or exceptionally only when given 

 the whole grain or unboltered meal. In keeping with this is the fact 

 that beri-beri does not only manifest itself where polished rice 

 constitutes the staple diet, but is also observed among a population 

 living chiefly on white-bread (Little). 



Also in Holland the tropical beri-beri can break out, as has been 

 proved by the cases that lately occurred among native sailors of Ihe 

 Rotterdam Lloyd, described by Koolemans Beynen. It is well-known, 

 moreover, that the so-called Ship beri-beri, a comparatively mild 

 form of the disease, which has been seen from time to time especially 

 on Norwegian ships, is also attributed, on reasonable grounds, 

 to too one-sided and too vitamin-poor a nourishment. Nor is it at 

 all improbable that cases of polyneuritis among men, which do occur 

 every now and then, are in some degree allied to beri-beri. 



Fortunately the accessory foodstuffs, playing a part here, occur 

 in many other articles of food, such as peas, beans, potatoes, meat, 

 egg-yolk etc. There need be no fear, therefore, for the immediate 

 appearance of beri-beri, at all events not when foods such as white 

 rice and white-bread are not the principal dish. However, if we 

 bear in mind that, as has been seen from what we said about meat, 

 the relative vitamins form a normal constituent of the animal 



4 

 Proceedings Royal Acad. Amsterdam. Vol. XXI. 



