1 24 SHIBAYAMA. 



and therefore the theory of the connection of the disease with the con- 

 sumption of rice is always brought to the fore. The observations of 

 Braddon, Fletcher, Ellis and Fraser, in the Malay Peninsula, have again 

 called attention to this matter. According to the observations of these 

 English authors, the consumption of parboiled rice is able to prevent the 

 outbreaks of beriberi in hospitals and the disease can even be cured by the 

 ingestion of this variety. 



Upon the basis of the theory of the connection of rice with the 

 etiology of beriberi, a freshly husked, but not polished, rice was used in 

 some of the mines on Banka Island, but the result was in evident contra- 

 diction to the theory. 



In 1908, 1,195 cases of beriberi developed in the Blinjoe, one of the mining 

 districts. Mine No. 3 was especially unfortunate, for 166 out of 410 workmen 

 contracted the disease, and mine No. 4 developed 118 cases among 390. No. 5 had 

 400 workmen, and 97 of these were ill with beriberi; on the other hand, the 

 remaining mines showed but few cases. For two years the workmen had received 

 unpolished, fresh rice, not only in mines Nos. 3, 4, and 5, but also in No. 11, 

 in which latter 49 out of 300 workmen contracted the disease; on the other hand, 

 the laborers in the remainder always had polished and old rice. It may further 

 be stated, according to Hullshoft'-Pol, that the workmen in all the mines received 

 150 grams hadjang idjo beans, together with dried fish and fresh vegetables, 

 daily. The result of our observations, therefore, was as follows: 



1. Even if the workmen in the mines receive 150 grams of hadjang 

 idjo regularly every day, nevertheless beriberi occurs among them. 



2. Even if the laborers are given a diet of fresh, unpolished rice, 

 nevertheless they develop more cases of beriberi than those in the other 

 mines, where they receive polished and older Java rice. 



I therefore could not find the assumption to be confirmed that unpol- 

 ished rice, which has the same composition as parboiled rice, could 

 prevent beriberi. 



I wish to add some statements concerning a general epidemic on board 

 a steamship which took 600 emigrants from Yokohama to South Amer- 

 ica; and 62 of whom were for various causes returned to that port 

 with the. same vessel. The entire voyage out and home took one hundred 

 and thirty-nine days. Beriberi gradually appeared among the returning 

 emigrants and by the time they reached Yokohama all, without a single 

 exception, had contracted the disease, and 6 died. The remainder, 

 upon arrival in port, were transferred to a hospital, where I saw the 

 patients, and after a careful examination I proved that the sickness 

 was genuine beriberi. 



The question has not been decided as to whether the general epidem- 

 ics which at times occur on board ship and which so greatly resemble 

 beriberi are in reality always genuine beriberi, or only a similar condition 

 or a scorbutic disease brought about through lack of nourishment. . The 

 Norwegian commission, in expressing an opinion concerning the beriberi 



