METABOLISM DURING STARVATION 



33' 



the outer husks have been removed. Under these conditions pains 

 and weakness of the muscles in the limbs develop, with a lowering 

 or complete loss of sensibility; often oedema also supervenes, and in 

 some cases death rapidly ensues. If instead of polished rice the 

 whole rice be eaten, such symptoms do not develop. The addition of 

 the " polishings " to polished rice also prevents the onset of symp- 

 toms. The proportion of cases of beri-beri in the Java prisons was 

 reduced from 1 in 39 to 1 in 10,000 when unshelled rice was substituted 



FIG. 188. To SHOW EFFECT OF VITAMINE ON NUTRITION. (Schaumann.) 



A, Pigeon fed on food containing no vitamine, unable to stand up; B, after adding 

 vitamine to food the first day; C, the second day. 



for shelled rice. In some districts of the East the disease has com- 

 pletely disappeared since this substitution has been made. The 

 necessary substance is contained in the subpericarpal tissue of the 

 rice; its nature has not yet been determined. The phosphorized 

 organic bodies which are abundant in the husk may be of consider- 

 able importance to the organism. 



Symptoms similar to beri-beri may be induced in animals by feeding 

 them on polished rice ; these symptoms are almost immediately relieved 

 when an acid extract of the " polishings " is added, after neutraliza- 

 tion, to the rice. 



22 



