490 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol.V, No. ix 
In the chronic form fatal results may not occur for a considerable time. 
The symptoms persist if the feed is not changed, and the pig appears to 
develop a certain degree of immunity to the effects of the disease. His 
condition, however, is continually, although slowly, declining. Pigs 
suffering from this form of the disease may live for a year or more on a 
cottonseed-meal ration. 
f On post-mortem examination, pigs which have died from the effects of 
cottonseed-meal feeding show large quantities of fluid in the abdominal 
and thoracic cavities and in the pericardial sac. The kidneys, liver, 
spleen, and small intestines are usually congested. In some cases the 
membrane lining the stomach is eroded. The lungs are very edematous, 
especially in pigs which have died from sudden acute attacks. The heart 
is enlarged. 
SIMILARITY OF SYMPTOMS OF COTTONSEED POISONING AND OF 
BERIBERI 
These conditions bear a striking resemblance to those seen in the 
disease known as beriberi in man, which, according to Vedder, 1 results 
“from faulty metabolism * * * * and is directly caused by the 
deficiency of certain vitamines in the food.” 
Beriberi in human beings is usually caused by a diet of highly milled rice 
and is never known to result from a diet of rice from which the pericarp 
and aleurone layer of the grain have not been removed. However, the 
disease may be caused by diets of which rice forms no part whatever. 
For example, a diet of bread or macaroni alone made from highly milled 
wheat flour will produce beriberi. Birds (chickens and pigeons) are 
generally used in the laboratory study of beriberi because they readily 
develop the chronic or “dry” form when fed on a diet of highly milled 
rice for a sufficient time, but they will also develop the disease if fed on an 
exclusive diet of white wheat bread. 
Beriberi in pigs is not frequently reported in the literature on the sub¬ 
ject. Braddon 3 reports, without details, the case of a pig fed on polished 
rice. The pig developed paralysis in about a month and died suddenly. 
It is believed that until this year this was the only case of the kind re-' 
corded. 
EXPERIMENTS TO COMPARE EFFECTS OF FEEDING POLISHED RICE 
AND COTTONSEED MEAL 
On August 31, 1915, the writers began a series of experiments to deter¬ 
mine (a) whether the “wet” or acute form of beriberi could be produced 
in pigs on a diet of polished rice, and ( b ) whether the disease heretofore 
called “cottonseed poisoning” in pigs is not really beriberi. 3 Four pigs 
1 Vedder, E. B. Beriberi, p. viii. New York, 1913. 
* Braddon, W. X,. The Cause and Prevention of Beri-Beri. p. 355. London, New York, 1907. 
8 It should be noted that Withers and Carruth made no extensive use of pigs in their investigations on 
gossypol. (Withers, W. A., and Carruth, F. E. Gossypol, the toxic substance in cottonseed meal. In 
Jour. Agr. Research, v. $, no. 7, p. 261-288, pi. 25-26. 1915-) 
