192 The Philippine Journal of Science wis 



more satisfactory evidence. Thus we intended to treat cases of 

 wet beriberi with Funk's base. If our hypothesis that there are 

 two vitamines is correct, the oedema should not be relieved by this 

 treatment, since Funk's base has been shown to be the neuritis- 

 preventing and curing vitamine. 



We were unable to try this experiment, because we have been 

 unable to obtain cases of wet beriberi in Manila at this time. 



It is known that the neuritis-preventing and curative vitamine 

 (Funk's base) is completely precipitated by phosphotungstic 

 acid. It seemed that, if the vitamine of wet beriberi actually 

 exists as a separate chemical substance, it might be possible 

 to effect a separation by this method, if it should happen not 

 to be precipitated by phosphotungstic acid. Accordingly, we 

 took a portion of the extract of rice polishings which had been 

 used in the treatment of the above cases and precipitated it 

 with phosphotungstic acid. This precipitate was filtered off 

 and the filtrate used to treat a case of infantile beriberi. In- 

 fantile beriberi belongs most frequently to the wet or cardiac 

 types of the disease. This child suffered from oedema and from 

 attacks of cardiac insufficiency. The child was promptly relieved 

 as the result of this treatment, the oedema disappeared, and 

 the heart returned to a normal condition, although it still con- 

 tinued to nurse its beriberic mother. This case is a strong 

 confirmation of our hypothesis. 



We realize fully that we cannot claim to have proved this 

 hypothesis upon the basis of such a small number of cases ; but, 

 as we are at present compelled to discontinue this work, the 

 facts so far obtained are reported in order that others may 

 continue these experiments and obtain a definite proof or dis- 

 proof of this hypothesis, which we are led to believe is the 

 correct explanation of the difference between wet and dry 

 beriberi. 



CONCLUSIONS 



1. Undermilled rice may be stored for one year in a damp 

 place without losing its protective powers against polyneuritis 

 gallinarum. It is improbable therefore that a rice which origi- 

 nally affords protection against beriberi will lose this property 

 by storage even in damp places. 



2. The neuritis-preventing substances or vitamines contained 

 in rice polishings are only slightly soluble in cold 95 per cent 

 alcohol, since three successive extractions, using a total of 6 

 liters of alcohol to each kilogram of polishings, fail to remove 

 all of the neuritis-preventing substances from rice polishings. 



