Another extract I found from my Checkpoint Biology book. This has to do with health, and is pretty cool and important. Many know about beriberi, it is a fatal disease in which the muscles and nerves fail to work. This is a small story called ‘Finding the cause of beriberi’ and explains the history of beriberi, and how it was conquered. Enjoy-

Finding the cause of beriberi

Christian Eijkman (1858- 1930) was a Dutch doctor who worked at a medical school in the East Indies in the late 19th century. He investigated the disease called beriberi. In this disease the nerves fail to work properly and the action of the muscles become weak. All movements, especially walking, become difficult, and as the disease progresses the heart may stop.

At this time other scientists had recently shown that microorganisms cause a number of diseases. It seemed reasonable to think that beriberi was also caused by a microorganism of some kind. Eijkman set up some investigations to find it. He was not having any success. Then one day a flock of chickens that were kept at the medical school began to show the symptoms of beriberi.

Eijkman tested them for signs of the microorganisms that he believed were causing the disease. Again he had no success in linking the disease to the microorganisms, but while he was studying the chickens they recovered from the disease. Eijkman began to search for a reason why they had developed the disease and also why they had recovered so quickly. He discovered that the chickens were usually fed on chicken feed (a specially prepared mixture of foods that kept them healthy). A cook who had been working at the medical school had stopped using the chicken feed and had fed the chickens on rice that had been prepared for the patients. This cook had left and a new cook had been employed who would not let the rice be fed to the chickens. The birds were once again fed on the chicken feed. When Eijkman fed the chickens on rice again they developed beriberi. When he fed them on chicken feed they recovered from the disease straight away.

The rice fed to the chickens and the patients was polished rice. This had had its outer skin removed and appeared white. Later work by scientists showed that the skin of the rice contained B1 or thiamin. This vitamin is need to keep the nerves healthy and prevent beriberi.