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BERHAMPUR

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 775 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BERHAMPUR , a See also:

town of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:presidency of See also:Madras. Pop. (1901) 25,729. It is the headquarters of See also:Ganjam See also:district, and is situated about 9 M. from the See also:sea. It is a station on the See also:East See also:Coast railway, which connects See also:Calcutta with Madras. Berhampur had a military See also:cantonment, sometimes distinguished as Baupur, containing a wing of a native See also:regiment; but the troops have been transferred elsewhere. There is some See also:weaving of See also:silk See also:cloth, and export See also:trade in See also:sugar. The See also:college, originally founded by See also:government, is now maintained by the See also:raja of Kallikota. Silk-weaving and sugar-manufacture are carried on. BERI-BERI, a tropical disease of the greatest antiquity, and known to the See also:Chinese from an extremely remote See also:period. It gradually dropped out of sight of See also:European practice, until an epidemic in See also:Brazil in 1863, and the opening up of See also:Japan, where it prevailed extensively, and the investigations into the disease in See also:Borneo, brought it again into See also:notice. The researches of Scheube and Balz in Japan, and of Pekelharing and Winkler in the Dutch Indies, led to its description as a See also:form of peripheral See also:neuritis (see also See also:NEUROPATHOLOGY).

The See also:

geographical See also:distribution of beri-beri is between 45° N. and 350 S. It occurs in Japan, See also:Korea and on the Chinese coast See also:south of See also:Shanghai; in See also:Manila, See also:Tongking, See also:Cochin See also:China, See also:Burma, See also:Singapore, Malacca, See also:Java and the neighbouring islands; also in See also:Ceylon, See also:Mauritius, See also:Madagascar and the east coast of See also:Africa. In the Western hemisphere it is found in See also:Cuba, See also:Panama, See also:Venezuela and South See also:America. It has been carried in See also:ships to See also:Australia and to See also:England. See also:Sir P. See also:Manson has " known it originate in the See also:port of See also:London in the crews of ships which had been in See also:harbour for several months," and he suggests that when peripheral neuritis occurs in epidemic form it is probably beri-beric. The cause is believed by many authorities to be an infective See also:agent of a parasitic nature, but attempts to identify it have not been entirely successful. It is " not obviously communicable from See also:person to person " (Manson), but may be carried from See also:place to place. It clings to particular localities, buildings and ships, in which it has a See also:great tendency to occur; for instance, it is See also:apt to break out again and again on certain vessels trading to the East. It haunts See also:low-lying districts along the coast, and the See also:banks of See also:rivers. Moisture and high temperature are required to develop its activity, which is further favoured by See also:bad See also:ventilation, overcrowding and underfeeding. Another strongly supported See also:hypothesis is that it is caused by unwholesome See also:diet.

The experience of the See also:

Japanese See also:navy points strongly in this direction. Beni-beri was constantly prevalent among the sailors until 1884, when the See also:dietary was changed. A striking and progressive diminution at once set in, and continued until the disease wholly disappeared. See also:Major Ronald See also:Ross suggested that beriberi was really arsenical poisoning. A natural surmise is that it is due to some fungoid growth affecting See also:grain, such as See also:rice, See also:maize or some other See also:food stuff commonly used in the localities where beri-beri is prevalent, and among sailors. The conditions under which their food is kept on See also:board certain ships might explain the tendency of the disease to haunt particular vessels. Dr See also:Charles See also:Hose is the See also:principal See also:advocate of this theory. Having had much experience of beri-beri in See also:Sarawak, he associates it with the eating of mouldy rice, a germ in the fungus constituting the See also:poison. But Dr Hose's views as to rice have been strongly opposed by Dr See also:Hamilton See also:Wright and others. The most susceptible See also:age is from 15 to 40. See also:Children under 15 and persons over 5o or 6o are rarely attacked. Men are more liable than See also:women.

See also:

Race has no See also:influence. Previous attacks powerfully predispose. The symptoms are mainly those of peripheral neuritis with See also:special implication of the phrenic and the pneumogastric nerves. There is usually a premonitory See also:stage, in which the patient is languid, easily tired, depressed, and complains of numbness, stiffness and cramps in the legs; the ankles are oedematous and the See also:face is puffy. After this, pronounced symptoms set in rapidly, the patient suddenly loses See also:power in the legs and is hardly able to walk or stand; this paresis is accompanied by partial See also:anaesthesia, and by burning or tingling sensations in the feet, legs and arms; the See also:finger-tips are numb, the See also:calf muscles See also:tender. These symptoms increase; the oedema becomes See also:general, the See also:paralysis more marked; breathlessness and palpitation come on in paroxysms; the urine is greatly diminished. There is no See also:fever, unless it is of an incidental See also:character, and no See also:brain symptoms arise. The patient may remain in this See also:condition for several days or See also:weeks, when the symptoms begin to subside. On the disappearance of the oedema the muscles of the See also:leg are found to be atrophied. Recovery is very slow, but appears to be certain when once begun. When See also:death occurs it is usually from See also:syncope through over-distension of the See also:heart. The mortality varies greatly, from 2 to 50% of the cases.

The disease is said to be extremely fatal among the See also:

Malays. After death there is found to be serious infiltration into all the tissues, and often haemorrhages into the muscles and nerves, but the most important See also:lesion is degeneration of the peripheral nerves. The cerebrospinal centres are not affected, and the degeneration of the See also:nerve-See also:fibres is more marked the farther they are from the point of origin. The implication of the phrenic and pneumogastric nerves, and of the cardiac plexus, accounts for the breathlessness, palpitation and heart failure; that of the vaso-motor See also:system for the oedema and diminution of urine, and that of the See also:spinal nerves for the loss of power, the impairment and perversion of sensation. According as these nerves are variously affected the symptoms will be modified, some being more prominent in one See also:case and some in another.

End of Article: BERHAMPUR

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