Excerpt from The Journal of Hygiene, Vol. 17 Vedder and Clark (1912), reporting observations on polyneuritis gallinarum based on experiments lasting for several years during which time over 200 fowls were used, make the following statement with regard to the relation between the amount of polished rice eaten and the time of development of neuritis. It has been generally observed that the great majority of fowls fed on polished rice usually lose their appetites after about a week on this diet, and thereafter eat only small amounts of rice. There are always a few fowls however which eat greedily up to the very last, and will eat far greater amounts than the usual ration allowed. Several deductions have been drawn from this fact with regard to the development of neuritis. Some observers have thought that those fowls that have eaten well throughout the experiment have been protected from the development of the disease by this increased consumption of rice, and therefore have been inclined to regard polyneuritis as the result of simple inanition. On the other hand, other observers have thought that those fowls that ate the most rice developed the disease soonest, and have regarded this as an argument in favour of the theory that polyneuritis gallinarum is caused by some toxin contained in the polished rice. We have observed fowls that always ate well, and yet developed neuritis sooner than usual, and we have observed fowls that ate large quantities of rice throughout the experiment, but whose depletion period was longer than normal. Again some of the fowls that have eaten poorly have developed neuritis promptly, while others have not developed the disease at all. Therefore it is believed that the amount of rice eaten has little to do with the development of the disease, which depends rather on the idiosyncrasy of the fowl with regard to the amount of neuritis-preventing substance required. Later, Braddon and Cooper (1914) and Funk (1914) published experiments which they thought demonstrated that when fowls or pigeons were fed on polished rice or starch, with or without a fixed amount of antineuritic vitamine, the greater the proportion of carbohydrate in the food, the quicker was the onset of polyneuritis. From this evidence these investigators concluded that the vitamine played an active part in the metabolism of carbohydrates. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.