XI, B, 3 Gibson and Concepcion: Development of Neuritis 123 



In the following experiment fowls were given 200 cubic centi- 

 meters of milk and 10 (later 20) grams of rice daily. 



Table II. — Fowls fed on fresh and autoclaved milk. 



[The fowls received 200 cubic centimeters of milk and 10 (later 20) grams of rice daily.] 



Fowl 

 No. 



Milk. 



Neuritis. 



Gain. 



Remarks. 



1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 

 7 

 8 



Fresh - 



None... 

 do 



Grams. 



360 



548 



277 



46 



16 



390 



- 167 



685 



Killed, seventy-ninth day. 



Do. 

 Killed, fiftieth day. 

 Killed, twentieth day. 

 Died, fifty-sixth day. 

 Killed, one hundred ninety-second day. 



Do. 



Do. 



do - . 



do . 



do . 



do . - 



.do . 



. . do 



do - 



do 



do 



Autoclaved . 



do 



do— 



do 







Two hundred cubic centimeters of milk per diem, either fresh 

 or autoclaved, have protected fowls against polyneuritis when 

 given with from 10 to 20 grams of rice daily. It must be said 

 that the rice used in this experimental series did not have all 

 of the pericarp removed in polishing. We have demonstrated in 

 a previous paper " that the peripheral nerves in fowls will show 

 degenerative changes histologically, without symptoms of poly- 

 neuritis, even when they are fed on palay (unhusked rice). 

 When the nerves of the eight milk-fed fowls were examined, no 

 evidence of degeneration was found. 



These observations on fowls may be summed up as follows: 



Fowls fed on 100 cubic centimeters of either fresh or auto- 

 claved milk and 40 grams of rice daily developed typical poly- 

 neuritis of the mild type in from thirty-one to eighty-four days. 

 All the fowls regularly increased in body weight throughout 

 the experiment. The fowls showed little or no atrophy of the 

 thymus gland, as reported by Funk for pigeons fed on polished 

 rice alone. 



Fowls fed on 200 cubic centimeters of either fresh or auto- 

 claved milk and not over 20 grams of rice daily did not develop 

 neuritis ; moreover there was no evidence of degenerative changes 

 in the peripheral nerves of these fowls. 



Therefore milk seems to contain only a small amount of 

 vitamine, which is not destroyed by autoclaving for two hours 

 at 125°C. 



"Ibid. (1914), 9, 119. 



