354 The Philippine Journal of Science isu 



of rice polishings, when taken up in water, contains practically 

 no phosphoric acid compounds, but still prevents polyneuritis. 

 The protective substance was capable of dialysis through a semi- 

 permeable membrane. The same authors ^° confirm the earlier 

 observations of Pol ^^ that extract of the mongo bean is protective. 



Wieland ^^ reports analyses of mice which had been fed on 

 rice. He found that such animals were no poorer in phosphorus 

 than the controls. It would seem from these experiments that 

 the etiology of the disease was not associated with deficiency in 

 the phosphorus supplied to the organism. 



Andrews -^ has made some very interesting observations on 

 infantile beriberi. Analyses were made of the milk obtained 

 from 11 women whose infants had died of beriberi, as confirmed 

 by necropsy. The figures show the milk in these cases to be 

 scant, but some of them seem normal so far as protein, fat, 

 and carbohydrate are concerned. Both the calcium and phos- 

 phoric acid content of the samples analyzed were above the nor- 

 mal. Puppies, allowed to suckle these women, died. Symptoms 

 and necropsy agreed entirely with those of the infants dying 

 of infantile beriberi. 



Chamberlain, Vedder, and Williams '-* found that arginine, 

 histidine, asparagine, and other amino-acids, lipoids of the 

 lecithin group, choline, and extract of onions were without pro- 

 tective action against polyneuritis in fowls. The neuritis-pre- 

 venting principle was shown to be insoluble in ether. In a 

 subsequent paper, Vedder and Clark -^ state that fowls receiving 

 10 grams of meat or potatoes or 5 cubic centimeters of cow's 

 milk per day, with polished rice, receive partial protection only. 

 Peas or peanuts given with the rice prevent the development of 

 polyneuritis. 



Funk -'' has reported the apparent isolation by phosphotung- 

 stic acid precipitation of the alcohol-soluble protective substance 

 from yeast, rice polishings, and other foodstuffs. He considers 

 this substance a pyrimidine derivation of the composition 

 C1-H40N0O7 and melting at 233°. Suzuki, Shimanura, and 



'"Ibid. (1911), 395. 



" Cited from Schaumann, loc. cit.; cf. also Pol, Arch. f. Schiffs- u. Trop.- 

 Hyg. (1910), 14, 63. 



'^ Arch. f. exper. Pathol. (1912), 69, 293. 



'"This Journal, Sec. B (1912), 7, 67. 



^'Ibid. (1912), 39. 



""-Ibid. (1912), 423. 



"Journ. Physiol. (1912), 45, 75. 



