The Strange Case of BeriBeri In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked the people in the Dutch East Indies. The disease was beriberi.
Symptoms of the disease included weakness and loss of appetite, victims often died of heart failure.
Scientists thought the disease might be caused by bacteria. They injected chickens with bacteria from the
blood of patients with beriberi. The injected chickens became sick. However, so did a group of chickens
that were not injected with bacteria.
One of the scientists, Dr. Eijkman, noticed something. Before the experiment, all the chickens had eaten
whole-grain rice, but during the experiment, the chickens were fed polished rice. Dr. Eijkman researched
this interesting case. he found that polished rice lacked thiamine, a vitamin necessary for good health.
1. State the Problem
2. What was the hypothesis?
3. How was the hypothesis tested?
4. Should the hypothesis be supported or rejected based on the experiment?
5. What should be the new hypothesis?