_Minimum daily ration that must be added to a diet of polished rice to prevent and to cure polyneuritis in a pigeon of 300 to 400 grams in weight. The weights are given in terms of the natural foodstuff._ ____________________________________________________________ AMOUNT NECESSARY | FOODSTUFFS | AMOUNT NECESSARY FOR DAILY PREVENTION | TESTED | FOR CURE ______________________|__________________|__________________ | | _grams_ | | _grams_ 1.5 | Wheat germ (raw) | 2.5 2.5 | Pressed yeast | 3.0-6.0[1] 3.0 | Egg yolk | 60.0[2] 20.0 | Beef muscle | 140.0[2] 3.0 | Dried lentils | 20.0[2] ______________________|__________________|__________________ [Footnote 1: Autolysed.] [Footnote 2: Alcohol extract.] These values illustrate both the method and its value in comparing sources. Unfortunately experience has shown that polyneuritis is amenable to other curative agents to a greater or less extent and it is difficult to be sure whether the curative or preventive dose represents merely the vitamine content of the unknown or is the sum of all the factors present in the curative or preventive material. In comparing the value of different chemical fractions it probably gives a fair enough basis for evaluating their relative power but it is not entirely satisfactory as a quantitive measure of vitamine content.