RICE DIET. 197 



neuritis at any time. We can iind in the literature no mention of 

 neuritis in man having developed as a result of inanition among the 

 professional "fasters" or among groups of men who were starving. 



It would seem that the peripheral nerves of fowls are less resistant 

 to degenerative influences than those of mammals and are among the 

 first tissues to suffer when the animals are starved or given a deficient 

 or ill-balanced diet. Our experience bears out the statement of Shiba- 

 yama that polyneuritis of fowls occurs in cachectic animals, while beri- 

 beri is prone to appear among men previously well nourished. 



Another point of difference is that oedema has been very rarely seen 

 in fowls with neuritis ( 15 ) while it is common in beriberi in man. ISTone 

 of our fowls suffering from neuritis 'showed any oedema. 



Therefore, we are inclined to join forces with those writers who con- 

 sider that polyneuritis gallinarum and beriberi are not identical but we 

 are fully in accord with Eraser and Stanton in their statements, (a) 

 that its capacity for producing polyneuritis in fowls is an accurate, in- 

 dicator- of the beriberi-producing quality of a rice and (&) that a low 

 phosphorous content is a reliable index of the dangerous character of 

 the grain. However, we have found that in neuritis-producing rice and 

 in beriberi-producing dietaries the potassium is even more reduced than 

 the phosphorus. The comparison between the two elements in rices is 

 shown above in Table I. The diminution in phosphorus as compared 

 with potassium in beriberi-producing diets was treated of in a former 

 communication from the Board (10) and is referred to above in the dis- 

 cussion on polished rice combined with various salts (Table II). The 

 latest work of Eraser and Stanton (22) seems to indicate that much the 

 greater part (85 per cent) of the phospjiorus in rice polishings is of 

 no value in preventing polyneuritis of fowls. It now remains to be 

 shown whether the real neuritis-preventing factor in polishings is the 

 small per cent of phosphorus not yet accounted for, or the potassium, 

 or some other element. 



The inference from the foregoing is that neuritis in fowls and beri- 

 beri in man is just as lilcely to be due to deficiency in salts of potassium 

 as to deficiency in salts of phosphoric acid. The results of our starva- 

 tion experiments suggested that, as far as fowls are concerned, it might 

 be a defiicency of both phosphorus and potassium which led to nerve 

 deterioration. The experiments in classes 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 indicated 

 that adding to polished rice either phosphorus or potassium, or both 

 elements, in two of their common inorganic forms, did not render the 

 grain any safer as an exclusive article of diet for fowls. We are about 

 to undertake another series of experiments combining with polished rice 

 other mineral salts, such as potassium carbonate, potassium citrate, potas- 

 sium phosphate, and magnesium phosphate. 



102362 3 



