DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF BERIBERI 897 



Vedder and Williams (1913), who used Funk's vitamin fraction and 

 found that the paralytic symptoms of dry beriberi showed immediate 

 improvement. 



Excellent results have also been obtained with yeast preparations. 

 Funk and Schaumann have shown that brewers' yeast is probably the 

 richest source of antineuritic vitamin, and Cooper (1914) found that 

 autolyzed yeast possesses marked curative action against avian polyneu- 

 ritis. Work in the writer's laboratory has furthermore shown that auto- 

 lyzed yeast treated with some hydrochloric acid will retain its activity 

 almost indefinitely (Myers and Voegtlin, 1920), and that a stable and 

 concentrated preparation can be obtained from autolyzed yeast by treat- 

 ment with fullers' earth (Seidell, 1915). Autolyzed yeast was tried in 

 the treatment of 45 cases of human beriberi by Saleeby (1919). He 

 reports that the preparation is well tolerated in doses of 15-40 c.c. 3 

 times daily for adults, and from 2-4 c.c. every 3 hours in breast-fed in- 

 fants. Marked results were noted in less than 3 days, and a week's 

 treatment seemed to give full relief in mild cases. Edema yielded quickly 

 and the appetite improved at once. Chronic changes in the nerves re- 

 mained unaffected. 



In conclusion, reference is made to the results obtained by Eddy and 

 Roper (1917) in the treatment of marasmic infants with a vitamin prep- 

 aration made from sheep pancreas. This extract was shown to contain the 

 antineuritic vitamin in relatively large amounts and its administration 

 to the patients was followed by marked improvement in general appear- 

 ance and resumption of growth. Similar results were reported by Daniels, 

 Byfield and Loughlin (1919), who demonstrated the beneficial action of 

 extracts from wheat embryo, carrots, turnips and celery on the growth 

 of artificially fed infants. 



