X, B, 5 Wilhams and Johnston: Notes on Beriberi 841 
cubic centimeters of blood were used in injections into 7 fowls 
without obtaining any certain positive indications of transmis- 
sion of the disease. In two fowls the wings drooped noticeably 
for two or three days following the injections. Four fowls 
into which blood was injected had previously been fed for ten 
days on polished rice in the hope of increasing their suscepti- 
bility to the disease. Even these birds, on a continued white 
rice diet, failed to develop polyneuritis any earlier than controls. 
A number of attempts were made to transfuse the blood 
of neuritic fowls into healthy ones. These were unsuccessful 
on account of the mechanical difficulties encountered. 
The entire fresh carcasses of three birds which had died from 
polyneuritis were ground in a meat grinder and the fluids ex- 
pressed from the flesh. In each case the entire fluid expressible 
from a carcass was introduced into the crop of a healthy bird. 
No neuritic symptoms appeared in these fowls within thirty 
days, during which time they were fed on unpolisned rice. 
The kidneys, liver, spleen, and heart of a bird which died of 
polyneuritis were removed and minced up together. About 5 
grams of the minced tissues were fed to each of three healthy 
fowls, which were thereafter fed on unhusked rice. This ex- 
periment was repeated with the organs of three neuritic birds. 
Of the total of 9 fowls receiving the mixed minced tissues of 
the internal organs only one showed unmistakable signs of 
neuritis. This bird, nine days after ingestion of the diseased 
organs, developed all the typical symptoms of polyneuritis pre- 
cisely as do fowls fed on white rice. The second day thereafter 
the bird became completely prostrated, displayed increasingly 
severe neck retraction and labored breathing, and died. This is 
the first case we have observed of the development of apparently 
typical polyneuritis in an animal fed exclusively on a diet sup- 
posedly rich in vitamines and known to be highly antineuritic. 
Several of the remaining fowls displayed more or less severe 
wing drop and torpidity during the second and third day, but 
later recovered completely. 
A further series of fowls was submitted to repeated dosage 
with the organs of diseased fowls. Data on this series is given 
in Table II. 
McCarrison’ has reported the isolation of an organism in 
cultures from the liver, spleen, kidney, and heart of birds in 
which polyneuritis had been developed by feeding on white rice. 
“Indian Journ. Med. Research (1914), 2, 369. 
135264——-3 
