﻿6 r.t'U.KTIX 1138, l". S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of positive symptoms of polyneuritis, (2) death due apparently to 

 polyneuritis, or (3) the close of the test. 



It is not necessary to describe the symptoms of polyneuritis in 

 pigeons, as they have been fully stated by other writers. The symp- 

 toms of acute polyneuritis are unmistakable. However, even on a 

 polished-rice diet, not all birds develop this type of the disease, but 

 some may exhibit a chronic form, usually first indicated by the 

 regurgitation of food, later by inability to empty the crop, weakness 

 in the Legs, etc., followed by general prostration, partial paralysis, 

 difficult breathing, collapse, and death. As a rule, polyneuritic 

 pigeons were promptly fed dried yeast, to which treatment most, 

 but not all, cases responded favorably. Usually birds with the acute 

 type of the disease j^ielded to treatment more readily than those 

 with the chronic form. 



TESTS WITH POLISHED RICE. 



Feeding tests were carried on with three pens of pigeons on an 

 exclusive rice diet in order to establish a basis for comparison with 

 pigeons fed on rations containing various proportions of muscle in 

 addition to rice. The results of these tests are shown in Table 1. 



Tabt.e 1. — Results of feeding polished rice in pigeons. 



Ration. 



Pigeon 

 No. 



Survival 

 period. 



Change in 

 weight. 



Result. 



PEN 1. 



73 

 70 

 72 

 74 



Days. 

 19 

 21 

 3.5 

 35 



Per cent. 

 -20.7 

 -15.0 

 -17.8 

 -31.7 



Polyneuritis. 



Do. 

 Very thin. weak, end of test. 



Do. 



Polvneuriii-. 



'Do. 



Do. 

 Very thin. weak, end of test . 



Polyneuritis. 

 'Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 





Do 





Do 





Do 













27.5 



-21.3 











PEN 2. 



Rice heated 2 hours at 130° C 



Do 



79 



77 

 76 

 78 



17 

 21 

 30 

 35 



-20.0 

 -23. 3 

 -39. 3 

 -36.9 





Do 



Do 









25.6 



-23.9 











PEN 3. 



Rice heated 2 hours ai 130° C 



Do 



Do 



Do 



Do 



66 

 38 



i.l 

 67 

 69 



9 

 11 

 18 



18 

 21 



-5.S 

 -13.0 

 -23.3 

 -19.9 

 -22.4 









15.4 



-16.9 















20.5 



-23.4 





A veragc, pens 1, 2. and 3 





22.8 



-22.7 





The data presented in Table 1 do not require a detailed discussion. 

 Attention is called to the difference in the survival period of birds in 

 a single pen on the same ration. The average survival period of the 

 birds in pens 2 and 3, getting heated rice, is seven days less than 

 that of the pigeons in pen 1 on the unheated-rice ration; but the loss 

 in weight is about the same. The survival period of the birds in 

 pen 3 is 12 days less than that of pen 1. In addition to these results, 

 the writer has found that when an animal tissue, like liver, normally 



