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Records
Vorderman AG (1897). Translation of key passages and title
Onderzoek naar het verband tusschen den aard der rijstvoeding in de gevangenissen op Java en Madoera en het voorkomen van beri-beri onder de geïnterneerden. Batavia: Jav. Boekh. & Drukkerij, 1897.
Investigation into the association between the type of rice feeding in prisons in Java and Madoera and the occurrence of Beri-beri among the prisoners. By A.G.Vorderman, Inspector of the Civil Medical Service in Java and Madoera. Batavia, 1897.
1. Vorderman took care not to rely on his own memory, nor only on his own observations. He carried out a preliminary postal survey.
Translation:
"My remark, that in accordance with the results of his (Eijkman's) experiments with poultry, I recalled never to have seen Beri-beri in prisons where red rice was used as the main nutrition but that I had always seen white rice given as the main nutrition in prisons where Beri-beri occurred, prompted Dr Eijkman to ask me whether he might use this at some point in time. For my part, there was no objection. Only, I wished first to have data from all prisons of Java and Madoera, not only for the sake of completeness, but also to verify whether this peculiarity was also present in the prisons that I had not so far visited."
"Therefore, I wrote a letter to all Heads of the Local Governments, with questions about the main type of nutrition of the prisoners, and about the occurrence of Beri-beri among these people, without, however, mentioning any possible relation between these two factors."(page 2)
2. The returns from the questionnaire overwhelmingly confirmed Vorderman's recollection, which led to his subsequent formal investigation, which involved visiting all the prisons, taking food samples, and collecting statistics about Beri-beri. He kept the aim of his mission secret, obtained the rice samples himself, and took steps to do this inconspicuously.
Translation:
"Mention of this special part of the aim of the visit was kept secret, however, to prevent it becoming known, in case the Chinese suppliers who delivered the food would show types of rice other than the one they usually provided."(page 3)
"Even if the rice was of inferior quality, or if there were other remarks to be made about the food, these were temporarily withheld, to prevent the Chinese suppliers guessing the special aim of the mission, and warning each other about my visit." (page 5)
3. Vorderman took steps to ensure that the rice assessor and his colleagues were blinded.
Translation:
"The expert [who assessed the rice, transl.] did not know anything about the places where the samples were taken, because they were presented to him by the dozen, in small bottles marked only by a letter or number. His brief was: determine whether the rice came from Saigon, Rangoon or Siam."(page 5)
"Only after the categorisation of the different prisons according to the types of rice was established, were the statistics which I had collected about Beri-beri sufferers and prisoners given to the above named medical doctors, to be ordered in the columns of appendix 10."(page 58)