194 The Philippine Journal of Science wis 



9. We have confirmed the observation of Suzuki, Shimamura, 

 and Odake, that Funk's base may be precipitated from unhy- 

 drolyzed extract by tannic acid, but did not succeed in obtaining 

 large amounts of this substance by this method. 



10. It is probable that this base or vitamine exists in food as 

 a pyrimidine base combined as a constituent of nucleic acid, 

 but that it is not present in the nucleins or nucleic acids that 

 have been isolated by processes involving the use of alkalies 

 or heat. 



11. The administration of unhydrolyzed extract of rice polish- 

 ings to cases of adult wet beriberi, or to cases suffering from 

 acute cardiac insufficiency, results in the prompt dissipation of 

 oedema and relief of the cardiac symptoms. 



12. The administration of unhydrolyzed extract of rice polish- 

 ings to cases of dry beriberi is followed by little or no improve- 

 ment in the paralytic symptoms. 



13. The administration of Funk's base to cases of dry beriberi 

 is followed by an immediate improvement in the paralytic 

 symptoms. This should remove the last doubt that dry beriberi 

 is caused by the deficiency of this substance in the diet. It 

 also finally proves that dry beriberi of man and polyneuritis 

 gallinarum are essentially the same disease. 



14. We have succeeded in curing a case of infantile beriberi 

 (of the wet type) by administering that portion of the extract 

 of rice polishings represented by the filtrate from the phospho- 

 tungstic precipitate. Since this filtrate does not contain Funk's 

 base, this is evidence that wet beriberi is cured by some other 

 substance. 



15. Conclusions 11, 12, 13, and 14 are striking confirmatory 

 evidence for the hypothesis previously stated by Vedder and 

 Clark that wet beriberi and dry beriberi are two distinct 

 conditions, each being caused by the deficiency of a separate 

 vitamine. 



REFERENCES 



(1) Braddock. Beriberi caused by rice stored in a damp place. Joum. 



Am. Med. Assoc. (1912), 59, 668. 



(2) Breaudat. Discussion on beriberi. Trans, of Second Congress of 



Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine. Hongkong (1912), 

 72. 



(3) Chamberlain, Vedder, and Williams. A third contribution to the 



etiology of beriberi. Phil. Joum. Sci., Sec. B (1912), 7, 39. 



(4) Chamberlain and Vedder. The cure of infantile beriberi by the 



administration to the infant of an extract of rice polishings and 

 the bearing thereof on the etiology of beriberi. Bull. Manila Med. 

 Soc. (1912), 4, 26. 



