Dietary Deficiencies on the Suprarenal Glands. 



11 



Observations on Pigeons fed with Polished Rice. 



As an initial experiment two series, each of twelve birds, were fed, those of 

 one series artificially with polished rice, while those of the other were allowed 

 to feed themselves on polished rice which had been autoclaved for 1| hours 

 at 130° C. The artificially fed birds of Series 2, with two exceptions, 

 developed polyneuritis in from seventeen to twenty -nine days. In Series 3 

 six birds showed well-marked symptoms between the sixteenth and twenty- 

 second days ; one was found dead on the ninteenth day with multiple liver 

 abscesses and was excluded from the record, and the remaining five were 

 killed on the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth days without having shown 

 symptoms of polyneuritis. In this experiment the birds were killed and the 

 estimations made as soon as the diagnosis of polyneuritis was certain. 



The general post mortem findings resembled those described in detail by 

 McCarrison (1919 a), except with regard to the incidence of " oedema." Only 

 three pigeons showed any sign of this. In pigeon 1, which was fed artificially 

 for twenty-three days, the pectoral muscles were definitely more moist than 

 normal, and the peritoneum and pericardium contained very small quantities 

 of fluid. Pigeon 7, which was fed in the same way for twenty-three days, 

 showed the same picture at autopsy, and pigeon H, which fed naturally on 

 polished rice for twenty days, had a little fluid in the pericardium at death. 



The average results for Series 2 and 3 are given in Table III. In Series 3 

 the birds have been divided into two groups and the results averaged 

 separately, group (a) consisting of birds without symptoms of polyneuritis, 

 and group (h) of those which acquired symptoms in from sixteen to twenty- 

 two days. 



The birds of this series which, after the first few days, ate very little, lost 



Table III. — Pigeons Fed on Polished Eice. 





Number 

 of 

 series. 



Number 

 of 



birds in 

 series. 



Number 



of 

 days on 

 diet. 



Initial 

 weight 

 in 



grm. 



Final 

 weight 



in 

 grm. 



Weight 

 of 



adrenals 



in 

 mgrm. 



Weight 

 of 



adrenals 

 per kilog, 

 initial 

 weight 

 in mgrm. 



Weight 

 of 



adrenaline 

 in mgrm. 



Weight of 

 adrenaline 

 per kilog. 

 of initial 

 weight 

 in mgrm. 



Average ... 



(2) 



11 



22-8 



371 -8 



29.3 -0 



63 -9 



172-0 



0-132 



-356 



i Maximal ... 







31 



460 



361 



86 



277 -4 



0-314 



0-683 



Minimal . . . 







17 



2«0 



200 



44 -5 



117-1 



0-058 



0-193 



Average (a) 



(3) 



5 



24 



364 



229-8 



.38 -0 



104-4 



0-082 



-225 



Average (b) 





6 



18-7 



350 



256 -7 



39 -3 



112 -3 



0-102 



0-291 



Average 





11 



21 



856 



244 



38-7 



108-7 



-093 



-261 



total 





















