An inquiry concerning the etiology of beri-beri / by Henry Fraser and A.T. Stanton.

  • Fraser, Henry, 1874-
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An inquiry concerning the etiology of beri-beri / by Henry Fraser and A.T. Stanton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    154/374 (page 26)
    is apparently a very constant difference in the amount of ash which is lower in the case of polished rice than in unpolished, parboiled or Malay rices. A person receiving parboiled rice would consume material yielding 74.6 grains of ash and a person receiving polished rice would consume material yielding 47.3 grains of ash. The difference of 27.3 grains is by no means inconsiderable more especially when it is remembered that small amounts of certain inorganic and organic salts have a great importance in the economy. As we were not in a position to separate out the various salts occurring in rice and it seemed possible then that even if we did accomplish this the results might be unsatisfactory, it was decided to carry out investigations with a view to determining whether a poison or poisons existed in polished rices known to have been associated with outbreaks of beri-beri. As has been already stated the white and the parboiled rices milled in this country have a common origin in respect of the grain from which they are prepared, therefore any deleterious substance or substances present in the white rice must have developed after polishing and have resulted from the action either of enzymes or of micro-organisms, failure to find these latter notwithstanding. It has been suggested that the removal of the pericarp and subjacent layers deprives the grain of protective structures and facilitates the action of micro-organisms. Rice is washed before cooking and the cooking involves exposure to a temperature of 2i2°F or thereabouts for some time, therefore the ingestion of living organisms with the rice may reasonably be excluded; their activity is confined to the interval which elapses between the milling and the cooking of the rice and the deleterious substance or substances produced by them must be capable of withstanding prolonged exposure to moist heat.