that could discover the causes of rheumatoid arthritis may be abandoned if $25,000 is not found by the end of this month.

Dr. Henry Subair said that because of lack of funding from the public and private sectors, the length of the project -- originally expected to cost $50,000 -- has been cut back from a year to six months.

But he said that if the money could not be raised by the end of this month, the whole project would have to be scrapped.

"The name of the game is funding,'' Dr. Subair said. "We don't know what is going to happen because we don't have the money. We haven't got any support from the Government and I think that is shameful. I think eventually it will die a quiet death.'' Dr. Subair and Dr. Keith Cunningham, chief pathologist at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, have been collaborating in this project with specialists at King's College, University of London, England, and the UCL School of Medicine at Middlesex Hospital in London.

Part one of the study has already taken place and been published in The Journal of Rheumatology, a prestigious international medical periodical.

Part two of the study was supposed to start at the end of this month and run for 12 months at a cost of $50,000. it is now slated to last six months.