PHOSPHORUS STARVATION : I. - 83 



I will, therefore, in conformity with Fletcher, designate the first rice 

 as ''unpolished" and the second as "polished," or apply the local names, 

 "red" and "white" rice. The unpolished or red rice should be harmless, 

 and we must regard the second process of polishing and milling as that 

 which changes a harmless foodstuff to one harmful under certain cir- 

 cumstances. 



This does not mean that the eating of "white" rice under all circum- 

 stances causes beriberi. In the first place, it is absolutely necessary 

 that the grain should form the main constituent of the diet, and as 

 the amount of other foodstuffs eaten is smaller in proportion to the 

 quantity of rice consumed, the incidence of the disease under such cir- 

 cumstances is doubtless greater than it would be were a larger amount 

 of other foodstuffs eaten. Furthermore, according to certain authors 

 it seems that white rice stored for a long time, especially in humid rooms 

 and similar places, favors the development of the disease more than the 

 freshly pounded grain, but we must not forget that the latter is almost 

 always prepared by the natives by hand and hence is not so highly 

 polished an article as that kept in storage, which is prepared by machinery. 



Eykman, 5 in the course of his investigations on beriberi has shown that chickens 

 fed only on white rice develop a disease which in several respects is similar to 

 beriberi. The most prominent symptoms are a paralysis of the legs and wings 

 and an increasing weakness of the animal., which, if no steps are taken to 

 prevent the further advance of the disease, finally dies. The pathologic examina- 

 tion shows a degeneration of the peripheral nerves, so that the condition has been 

 termed Polyneuritis galiinarum. It is very interesting to note from our own 

 standpoint that the same changes in diet, which either avoid or cure beriberi act 

 in an absolutely similar manner upon the fowl. 



The disease is only contracted if the fowls are fed on white rice. Those fed 

 on the red grain will suffer very rarely, if at all. An addition of beans or fresh 

 meat to the diet cures the chickens while in the early stages of the disease. 

 Finally, a fowl fed on a. sufficiency of beans and white rice or enough meat and 

 white rice will not become ill at all. These experiments have been repeated by 

 Grijns, Maurer, 7 Hoist and Frbhlieh s and also recently by Sehaumann," and the 

 observations .of Eykman have been fully confirmed. These authors have shown 

 that a similar disease can also be produced in pigeons. In another interesting 

 series of experiments Eykman, Grijns and Axel Hoist have further proved that 

 not only white rice, but also certain other foods are liable to produce polyneuritis 

 in chickens and pigeons, and that, especially, long sterilization at a high tem- 

 perature of certain foodstuffs (such as horse meat) which are absolutely 



5 Yirehow's Archir . (1897), 148, 523-532; Arch. Hyg. 58, 150-170. 

 "Geneesh. Tyds. v. Ned. Ind. (1908), 48; (1909) 49. 



7 Arch. f. Schiffs-u. Trop.-Hyg. (1909), 13, 233-252, 284-297. 



8 Norsk. Magaz. f. Lagevidenskab. 68. (Biochem. Centralb. ( 1907 ) , 6, No. 1225 ; 

 ibid, No. 2478. 



'Arch. f. Schiffs-u. Trop.-Hyg. Beiheft V. (1908). 12, 37. 



