DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF BERIBERI 



895 



neuritis gallinarum, it was shown that aqueous and alcoholic extracts of 

 rice polishings and beans have a marked curative action in polyneuritic 

 birds. A completely paralyzed bird may regain its normal appearance 



Fig. 1. Severe polyneuritis due to exclusive diet of polished rice. Complete 

 paralysis of legs. Received intramuscularly 8 mg. vitamin prepared from brewer's 

 yeast. 



within a few hours after a few cubic centimeters of an active extract has 

 been administered. Funk has seen similar" improvement with 20 mg. of a 

 purified preparation, and Voegtlin and Lake (1919) noted just as striking 

 relief in symptoms in polyneuritic cats. While the effect of the extract 



/.-// Hi Lt).fl_ 



Fig. 2. Same pigeon as in Fig. 1 , two hours after injection of vitamin. 



in the human is not quite so astonishingly rapid, improvement in patients 

 may be noticed within a very short time. Thus, Chamberlain and Vedder 

 (1912) obtained very satisfactory results with crude extracts of rice 

 polishings in the treatment of breast-fed infants suffering from beriberi. 



