(Solved): Scientific Method In Action: The Strange Case of BeriBeri In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked ...

Scientific Method In Action: 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. To test, they injected chickens with bacteria from the blood of patients with beriben. 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 duning the experiment, the chickens were fed polished rice. Dr. Ejikman researched this interesting case. he found that polished rice lacked thiamine, a vitamin necessary for good health. 1. State the original problem (observation). Scientists thought that beriberi was caused bel a bacteria that caused weanness and noss of appetite in its victims as well as heart failure. 2. What is the question generated by the observation? 3. What was the hypothesis? 4. How was the hypothesis tested? To test the hypothesis, scientists injected chickens with bacteria from the blood of patients with Beriberi. 5. Should the hypothesis be supported or rejected based on the experiment? Explain.