Beri-beri : researches concerning its nature and cause and the means of its arrest made by order of the Netherlands Government / by C.A. Pekelharing and C. Winkler ; translated by James Cantlie.

  • Pekelharing, Cornelis Adrianus, 1848-1922.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Beri-beri : researches concerning its nature and cause and the means of its arrest made by order of the Netherlands Government / by C.A. Pekelharing and C. Winkler ; translated by James Cantlie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/242
    PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. The frequent occurrence of cases of Beri-beri in the out-patient department of the Alice Memorial Hospital, Hong Kong, led me to look up the literature of the subject. Until I chanced upon the work of Pekelharing and Winkler, I met with no attempt to deal with the disease in a scientific manner nor indeed with any degree of breadth or fulness. Next in import- ance is the result of the work of the German doctors connected with the Tokio University, Japan, where, after careful investi- gation, Kakké was proved to belong to the genus Beri-beri. Amongst British observers few have done anything beyond recording cases, and contributing a few unimportant papers. Latterly, however, Surgeon-Captain J. T. W. Leslie, M.B., of the Indian Medical Service, in Burmah, has produced a valuable brochure on the disease ; and, in Assam, Surgeon-Major G. M. J. Giles, M.B, of the same service, has been dealing with the subject by the methods of recent investigation, and has contributed many details and observations. Giles has been caught, as many have been before, by the worm theory of the genesis. This no doubt he will modify as time goes on, or, if not, his successors in the field will do so. One is proud of Giles’ work, however, as a record of careful scientific labour, and it lies with others to prove the faulty and unstable nature of his conclusions. Simon of Singapore has done much towards abolishing the worm theory, even with the scientific dress of Giles. Walker of Borneo, who is a keen investigator from the duodenal worm point of view, writes to me to be careful not to place him in the list of believers in that theory. I must add my own testimony, to the effect that I have not found the Ankylostoma duodencde in