— 191 — 



As it was necessary to find, at any cost, a better and decisive 

 test for rice, no efforts might be neglected to try, by means 

 of experiments on animals, to come to an actual conclusion 

 as to the excellency of rice, or of its insufficient activity. 



The investigation is thus certainly transferred to a field 

 which is seldom and not willingly exploited by the chemist, 

 but quite recently the opinion is gaining ground, even in 

 chemical circles, that, under certain circumstances the 

 physiological value-estimation ought to be made obligatory. 



This is accepted for medecines and galenic preparations, 

 when their effective substances are not sufficiently known, 

 can not be quantitatively isolated, or can not be determined 

 in any other manner, — in one word, when no guarantee 

 as to their excellency can be obtained by means of chemical 

 investigation. 



The same meaning was expressed, amongst others by 

 Dr. J. S. Meulenhofe (Zwolle) and the professors Ruitinga 

 and P. van dee Wielen (both of Amsterdam) in their reports 

 of the 11 th International Pharmaceutical Congress, held at 

 the Hague in September 1913. ("Pharmaceutisch Weekblad" 

 1913, pages 1037, 1040 and 1076). 



It depends upon whether a physiological test can be given, 

 which is of practicable application and sufficiently reliable. 



The question as to whether such a method for the 

 investigation of rice is to be found, has been answered by 

 the experiments on rice-birds detailed in Chapter V of this 

 treatise, and this answer cannot be considered otherwise 

 than affirmative. 



The manner of procedure best deserving recommendation, 

 as shown by these experiments and by later investigations 

 as to their details is found to be the following. 



For each test at least three rice-birds are to be experi- 

 mented upon, after having been previously made ill by 

 feeding them during 3 or 4 weeks exclusively with 

 highly polished rice. The experiment is best made just 

 when they begin to show polyneuritic symptoms, and also 



