STUDY OF POLYNEURITIS GALLINARUM. 453 



wheat flour is shown to be similarly deficient,'^ this observation 

 is a strong confirmation of that theory. It is evident that we 

 can not prevent beriberi by adding bread to the ration. 



The experiments show that peas and peanuts possess the prop- 

 erty of preventing the disease equally with beans or mongos 

 (katjang idjo). It is probable that most leguminous seeds 

 possess this property. This is of practical importance since 

 it indicates that peas will be equally as efficacious as beans in 

 preventing beriberi when added to a ration for use on shipboard 

 or for natives subsisting chiefly upon rice. 



It will be noted that both meat and potatoes when cooked ap- 

 peared to afford more protection than when eaten raw. It had 

 been expected that the reverse would be the case, since it was sup- 

 posed that some of the protective substance might be destroyed 

 by cooking. We are at present unable to account for the fact 

 that the cooked food appeared to afford greater protection than 

 raw food. These experiments, however, dispose of the objection 

 so often raised against the deficiency theory that men who eat va- 

 rious quantities of other food in addition to the staple diet of rice 

 may nevertheless develop beriberi. It is clearly shown that most 

 articles of diet contain only small amounts of the protective 

 substance, and that when even moderate quantities of many 

 foods are added to a staple of rice, which practically contains 

 none at all, the deficiency still exists. 



Funk (27) has apparently isolated the neuritis-preventing sub- 

 stance from rice polishings and other foodstuffs, and has shown 

 that it is an organic base probably belonging to the pyramidine 

 group having a formula of Ci^HgoNgO^ and a melting point of 

 233° C. This base, or vitamine as Funk calls it, was precipitated 

 by phosphotungstic acid. Chamberlain, Vedder, and Williams (7) 

 had already tried this method unsuccessfully, but they do not 

 regard their failure as disproving Funk's results, owing to the 

 fact that their extract was prepared in a slightly different manner 

 from that used by Funk. 



Accepting Funk's discovery as correct, from the above con- 

 clusions we deduce the following : The organic base or vitamine, 

 which prevents the development of polyneuritis gallinarum 

 and which is present in varying amounts in different foodstuffs, 

 is a building stone which is essential for the normal metabolism 



° Little also showed that the disease in Labrador could be prevented and 

 cured by the use of bran or polishings from wheat, thus clearly demon- 

 strating that the disease in this case was also due to a food deficiency. 



