196 CHAMBERLAIN, BLOOMBERGH, KILBOURNE, 



One can not avoid wondering if the real cause of multiple neuritis 

 in fowls fed on polished rice is not general inanition rather than the 

 lack of any one element in the rice. LeDantec(i5) says "Fowls nouri- 

 shed on white rice die of inanition and not of beriberi." A similar view 

 is expressed by Breaudat(23) who states that animals so nourished die 

 of inanition with symptoms which are similar to those of beriberi. How- 

 ever, he thinks, that intoxication .plays a part in the fatal result. 



In further support of the idea that the multiple neuritis of fowls 

 sulsisting on polished rice is due to inanition is the evidence supplied 

 by those fowls that seemed to relish polished rice and ate their full daily 

 allowance. As stated before, nearly all the birds fed on polished rice 

 lost their appetite early in the experiment and would eat little or none 

 of this grain, but a few were exceptions to the rule, notably numbers 

 5, 7, and 40, and they remained well for long periods of time. We are 

 unable to reconcile our findings with the statement of Maurer(i2) that 

 those fowls which eat polished rice in the largest amounts are the first- 

 to become paralytic and that by feeding small amounts of the rice the 

 sickness may be postponed for a long time. 



As shown in Table IV, out of the entire 56 fowls experimented with 

 27 developed neuritis, the average loss of weight up to the appearance 

 of symptoms being 30.9 per cent. In every case but 2 (numbers 2 

 and 20) a loss greater than 21 per cent occurred before the symptoms 

 developed. Of the 16 fowls which remained well throughout the ex- 

 periments, only 5 lost weiglit at all and not one of these five decreased 

 as much as 19 per cent. (Numbers 9, 14, 16, 27, and 33.) Only one 

 fowl (number 40) gained when fed on polished rice and he was well 

 at the end of 80 days when the experiment was concluded. 



VI. BEARING OF THESE EXPERIMENTS ON THE ETIOLOGY OF BERIBERI. 



As stated before, our original object in conducting these experiments 

 was not to prove or disprove the identity of multiple neuritis in fowls 

 and beriberi in man, but to test the neuritis-producing qualities, when 

 fed to fowls, of certain native and imported rices and to use the infor- 

 mation thus acquired as an aid in selecting the variety of grain and the 

 degree of milling best suited for the Filipino troops. Nevertheless, as 

 the work progressed, certain points of dissimilarity between beriberi and 

 polyneuritis gallinarum became apparent and it may not be inappropriate 

 to mention them here. 



Fowls are especially susceptible to neuritis and get the disease under 

 circumstances which have no effect on the nerves of some other animals. 

 Monkeys, when fed on a diet of boiled, polished rice and water, remained 

 well, although the experiments continued for more than three montlis. 

 They had lost in weight and become weak, but did not show signs of 



