— 175 — 



calculated on undried material — must be demanded. In finding 

 this value-limit the empirical method was followed, in so far 

 that the abovenamed investigators had never seen beri-beri 

 break out on man, or polyneuritis on birds when dieted on 

 rice containing more than 0,4% P 2 5 which they certainly 

 saw when rice was used with a lower P 2 5 amount. 



A distinct sign of the urgency of a suitable test for 

 unpolished rice is the fact that their proposal was not only 

 universally accepted, but also that there was even a general 

 coquetting with the standard given. 



The fixing of such a norma could not however completely 

 satisfy the more pharmacognostically disposed chemist. 



All the same, there are scarcely any objections made to 

 the acceptation of the proposed indicator and of the standard 

 cipher given therefor. 



Only once during the three years which have elapsed since 

 the appearance of the abovenamed work has there been one 

 objection made to the cipher 0.4 as minimum P 2 5 content 

 for rice of sufficient activity, and this was in the "Studies 

 of Beri-beri and its Prevention in Siam", a treatise which 

 was published in Juli 1912, by order of the Siamese 

 government. The grievance here mentioned might be considered 

 as of little importance, for the design of clearing Rangoon 

 rice from aspersions which had been cast on it, gave a 

 tendential character to the whole treatise. In any case, on 

 pages 32 and 35 of that work the fact is stated that during 

 4 years there had only been one case of beri-beri in Minbury 

 Jail, although the rice there generally used contained not more 

 than 0,29 — 0,30°/ P 2 5 . From this fact the conclusion was 

 drawn that the fixed value limit of 0,4% was not above 

 criticism and ought to be fixed lower. 



The results of the following investigations in this direction 

 have clearly demonstrated the fallibility both of the proposed 

 indicator and of its accepted minimum. These investigations 

 have shown that probably there are kinds of rice which 

 just as the Siam rice in question are of sufficient activity, 



