132 



KILBOIKXE. 



sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, with carbonic, hydrochloric, 

 sulphuric, and phosphoric acids. If a deficiency in any of these has an 

 etiologic bearing on beriberi, such deficiency should appear both in the 

 polished rice and in the diets of the "infected"' companies. 



A comparative table, complied from data taken from Bbyth's "Foods, 

 Their Composition and Analysis," is as follows : 



Table III. — Comparative table of salts in food (Blytli). 



Constituents. Rice. 



Potatoes. 



Peas; 



Corn. 



Potash _ . 



0. 0977 

 .0247 



0. 5050 

 .0215 



1 . 1393 

 . 0254 

 .1322 

 .2109 

 .0227 

 .9653 

 .0956 

 . 0227 

 .0408 



0. 2390 

 .0608 

 .0352 

 .1232 

 .0135 

 .5904 

 .0068 

 .0301 

 .0011 





.0145 j .0210 

 . 0504 . 0354 







. 0055 



.0096 





.2415 

 .0027 

 . 0121 

 .0004 



.1421 

 . 0532 

 . 0174 

 . 0255 











It will be noted that rice is low in potash, lime, phosphoric acid, 

 sulphuric acid and chlorine. The potassium, calcium, and phosphorus 

 content will be discussed later. The low sulphuric acid content is of 

 no importance. 



As has been stated above, the amounts of proteid have been sufficient 

 in the dietaries of all the companies investigated, thereby furnishing the 

 amount of sulphur necessary. "Sulphates eaten pass out through the 

 urine. They play no part in the life of the cell." T The low chlorine 

 content has no bearing on beriberi among the Scouts, for the native soldier 

 consumes enough table salt to make up the deficiency; whether he eats 

 too much salt and thereby extracts needed potassium ions from the body 

 is a question worthy of consideration. ' 



The phosphorus and potassium content of the dietaries of several 

 Scout companies and of the prisoners at work on Corregidor Island is 

 given in the following table. The companies have been divided into 

 three classes according to the incidence of beriberi in each. 



Average number of grams consumed per man per day. 



Class. 



P = ; . 



KC1. 





3. 3474 

 3. 9399 

 4. 6279 



1.0600 | 

 1. 1905 

 1. 6517 









'American Text-Book of Physiology. Philadelphia, 1 ed. (1896), 951. 



