Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-16

toms. too. we excused ourselves. and
the health commissioner undertook to
conduct us to his Office to show us what
he had done SO far. As for me, / could
not get Miss Langdale out Of my mind.
and especially the mysterious letter to
Kennedy. What of It and what of it's
secret sender?
Half an hour later. in the department
laboratory. Leslie began to recapitu-
late what he had already done in the
case.
'sYou asked whether I had examined
the food" he remarked pausinE IN a
were number Of pigeons. separated
and carefully tagged. With a wave Of
his hand at one group of cages he con-
tinued These fellows I have been
feeding exclusively on samples Of the
various foods which took from the
Wardlaw family when I first went UP
there. Here. too. are charts showing
what have observed up to date. Over
the same group which have been fed
regularly on the usual diet SO that L
can check my tests"
Kennedy fell to examining the pig
and records of feeding and results.
None OF the, birds fed on what had
been taken from the apartment looked
wen, though some were worse than
others.
Il want you to observe this fellow"
pointed out Leslie at last. singing out
one cage. The pigeon in 1t was pa
thetic figure. His eyes seemed dull and
glazed. He paid little or no attention
to us: even his food and water did not
seem to interest him. Instead Of strut
ting about, he seemed to be positively
wabbly on his feet. Kennedy exam
med this one longer and more carefully
than any Of the rest.
There are certainly all the symp-
toms OF beriberi. or. rather. poIyneu-
rttis.. In pigeons. with that bird,' ad-
mftted Craig. finally.
The commissioner seemed to be graft
ned. You know" he remarked, "berf-
beri itself is common disease in the
orient. and the cause is now known
to be the lack of something in
the food. which in the orient is mostly
rice. Polishing the rice. which re-
moves part OF the outer coat, also takes
away something that is necessary for
life, which scientists now call vita
mines
Il may take some OF these samples to
study myself" interrupted Kennedy,
as though the story of vitamines was
an old one to him.
by all Means" agreed Leslie.
Craig selected what he wanted keep
ing each separate and marked. and ex-
cused himself saying that he had some
Investigations of his own that he wish
ed to make and would let Leslie know
the result as soon as he discovered any
thing.
Kennedy did not go back directly to
the laboratory, however. Instead. he
Went up town and. to my surprise,
What II was that he was after could
not imagine. but, after a conference
with the manager, he obtained several
quarts or brewers yeast. which he had
Back at last in his own Laboratory.
Craig set to work on the brewers
yeast. deriving something from It by
the plentiful use of liquid labeled
Il a
drous aluminium sillcate.
After WORKING for some time, I saw
that he had obtained a solid which he
pressed into ut the form of little whitish
taoie.s. re nao by no means finished.
but, noticing my impotence, he placed
the three or four tablets in Z little hox
and handed them to me. 1850 ~
Iou might take these over to Les
ter" he directed. Tell him M 70 feed
them to that abbiy-Iookine pigeon
over there--and let me know the mo-
ment he observes any effect"
gag OF the chance to occupy myself.
sided over the first feeding Of the bird.
Wnsn returned I found that KEN
nedy had finished his. work with the
prewers yeast and was now devoting
himself to the study Of the various
samples Of food which he had ohtained
from Leslie oD-'e1
He was just finishing test of the
uahIaS powaef when entered, and his
Fled. p11
What is it"cc 1 asked. "Have YOU
found out anythins?D
ms seems TO be almost plain so
caily.
And that indicatese" / prompted.
srnaps nothing. In itself" he went
sod, ,ss aa.orrhsr nns but the use Of
which I have discovered In other sam
Pies. disengages carbon dioxide 1t the
,empesatule of baking and cooking. The