48 CHAMBERLAIN, VEDDER, AND WILLIAMS. 



The only other differences that are apparent between the sec- 

 ond and first rations at Bilibid are (a) an increase in potatoes 

 from 85.05 grams to 119.07; (b) a decrease in rice from 453.60 

 grams to 255.15 grams ; and (c) an increase of bread from 151.20 

 to 302.40 grams. It seems improbable that the small increase in 

 potatoes could have been of importance. However, the amount 

 of rice consumed was decreased about one-half, and the amount 

 of bread consumed was doubled, and this simple change was, in 

 our opinion, the one that put an end to the very serious epidemic 

 of beriberi. 



A number of instances where similar slight changes have re- 

 sulted in the prevention of beriberi are on record in the literature 

 of the subject, among which we may mention the following: 



Beriberi was very prevalent among the Japanese soldiers at Port Arthur 

 during the Russo-Japanese war. They received a daily ration of 30 ounces 

 of rice and 5 ounces of meat. The Japanese sailors on the other hand, 

 serving on shore and living under similar circumstances except as to their 

 diet, did not have beriberi. They received a daily ration of 20 ounces of 

 rice, 10 ounces barley, and 1 pound of meat. In this case, therefore, 

 beriberi was prevented by the reduction in the amount of rice consumed, 

 the addition of barley, and an increase in the meat component. By the 

 simple change involved in the reduction of the amount of rice consumed, 

 and the addition of a legumen to the diet, beriberi was reduced in the 

 Philippine Scouts (native) from an average of 600 cases a year to nil. 

 The instances where beriberi has been prevented by the substitution of 

 undermined (or cured) rice for highly milled (or polished) rice are too 

 well known and numerous to mention. Although the discovery of the actual 

 neuritis-preventing substance is of the greatest scientific interest and 

 importance, we consider, in view of the facts already known and referred to 

 above, that the hygienic problem of the prevention of beriberi is already 

 solved. 



In the further chemical analysis of the extract of rice polish- 

 ings, a substance thought to be cholin was isolated. This also 

 seemed worth testing, since cholin is an important constituent 

 of nerve tissue, combined with phosphorus and fatty acids in 

 the form of lecithin. Moreover, cholin fulfils the chemical and 

 physical requirements which we have experimentally determined 

 that the neuritis-preventing substance possesses. On account of 

 the difliiculty in obtaining pure cholin we used lecithin made from 

 eggs (Merck's preparation). 



Experiment 18. — Four fowls were fed on polished rice plus a 

 daily dose of 0.3 gram lecithin. 



One fowl developed neuritis in eighteen days and 1 in twenty- 

 four days, after which the experiment was considered negative 

 and discontinued. Since in chemical character lecithin is a salt 

 containing cholin as its base, we conclude that this experiment 



