DISCUSSION. 139 



opinion, it is probable that if by a process of sterilization the soluble phos- 

 phorus compounds and phytin from beans (such as mongo) or from 1 ice 

 are extracted, this fact would explain the deleterious action of, say, steril- 

 ized beans, etc. I did not venture to touch upon this subject in my 

 paper because I did not have sufficient experimental data, but this 

 explanation is very clear to anyone who has worked with the question. 

 An important point in regard to the process of sterilization would be 

 to discover if, by this means, any extracts are produced which are 

 separated from the beans and lost. A recent paper from the Physiolog- 

 ical-Chemical Institute in Strassburg demonstrates that bread, when 

 extracted, can not sustain mice in normal health, but if the extracts are 

 added to the extracted bread, or unextracted bread is fed to the animals, 

 they remain in good health. 



In reply to Doctor Castellani's question, I would say that it can not 

 be denied that the deleterious action of white rice could be explained 

 by the supposition that a diet of this variety might favor the develop- 

 ment of certain infective organisms. I can not agree as to the validity 

 of calculations such as those made by Doctor Kilbourne. In the first 

 place, even under military discipline, it is not possible to control the 

 amount which each individual actually takes when the amount given 

 to, say, 100 men only is known. I have .observed that stricter rules are 

 in force in Bilibid Prison than in the United States Army, and that 

 even the prisoners exchange certain portions of their food; thus one 

 man will trade meat for rice; or milk for cigarettes, and so on. I 

 observed the same thing in Culion, when on a trip with Doctor Heiser. 

 Mongo and rice are issued in Culion, a certain number of pounds for 

 a certain number of men, but one man might eat rice alone, because 

 he did not like mongo; others would take mongo because they were 

 afraid of an attack of beriberi which at that time was prevalent in the 

 colony. 



In the second place, errors would be made in calculating the com- 

 position of foodstuffs according to tables or text-books. My own analyses 

 demonstrate the great differences in the composition of two classes of the 

 same food-stuffs, especially of rice. I do not know how anyone can deter- 

 mine the phosphorus content from the appearance of the rice alone. It 

 is for these reasons that I doubt the value of such calculations, fraught 

 as they are with two such grave errors. 



Dr. Isaac W. Brewer, Medical Reserve Corps, United States Army. — 

 Major Ruffner, United States Army, has asked me to present the 

 statistics from Camp Connell, which during the past year has been one 

 of the largest stations for native troops in the Islands. One hundred 

 and eight cases occurred at that post from May to October, 1909. The 

 disease was eliminated by increasing the amount of beef, bread, and 

 beans given in the rations, and by limiting the rice to one meal daily, 



