THE INFLUENCE OF COMPENSATED SALT MIXTURES ON THE 



DEVELOPMENT OF POLYNEURITIS GALLINARUM 



AND BERIBERI 



By R. B. Gibson 



(From the Laboratory of Physiology, College of Medicine and Surgery, 

 University of the Philippines) 



Four plates 



Recent work on the etiology of beriberi has shown that this 

 disease develops because of the absence from the diet of some sub- 

 stance or substances necessary for the normal nutritive process of 

 the body. Thus Strong and Crowell ' have shown that the disease 

 may occur in man under the most favorable hygienic conditions 

 with exception in regard to diet. That beriberi in man may be 

 caused by limited diets which do not include polished rice is 

 evident from the observations of Axel Hoist ■^ on the occurrence 

 of the disease on Norwegian ships ; of Little ® on the existence 

 of beriberi on the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, where 

 white wheat flour is the chief article of diet in certain seasons; 

 and finally of Lovelace * that cases have occurred in Brazil. 

 Beriberi, then, is a subject of world-wide interest. Further- 

 more, the study of this disease promises to do much toward 

 clearing up some of the important problems in the physiology of 

 nutrition. 



The observations of Fletcher ^ and of Fraser and Stanton ' 

 have shown that diets consisting chiefly of polished rice are 

 the common cause of beriberi in the Orient. If the white rice, 

 however, was replaced by the rough rice, the disease did not 

 develop. Substitution of rough rice for the white article and 

 additions to the dietaries of the native military forces and public 

 institutions in the Philippine Islands have eliminated beriberi 



^This Journal, Sec. B (1912), 7, 271. 



'Journ. Hyg. (1907), 7, 619; Trans. Soc. Trap. Med. & Hyg. (1911), 

 5, 71. 



'Journ. Am. Med. Assoc. (1912), 58, 2029. 



*Ibid. (1912), 59, 2134. 



'Lancet (1907), 1, 1776. 



^Ibid. (1909), 1, 451; Studies from Institute for Medical Research. Fed- 

 erated Malay States (1909), No. 10. 



351 



