NUTRITIONAL DISTURBANCES IN CHILDREN 339 



did not grow; they lost about 50 per cent of their weight and their 

 condition was such as is mostly described in atrophic children. The 

 animals showed a fatty degeneration of the liver; in one case, there 

 was edema and scoliosis, with a permanent curvature of the spine. 

 A physiological explanation of this appearance is still to be found. 

 Should it appear, however, that the milk dystrophy and the decom- 

 position of Finkelstein are attributable to the high fat content of the 

 diet, then the influence of fat may be studied experimentally in the 

 above manner. 



In infantile atrophy, Salge (1209) found the assimilative capacity 

 satisfactory. The energy and metabolism of these children was 

 studied by Bahrdt and Edelstein (1210). The assimilation of fat 

 was found normal by Hutchinson (I.e. 1096) ; fat losses are, however, 

 quite high as a result of voluminous stools. The protein content of 

 the blood was found low by Utheim (1211) and he believed that the 

 protein synthesis proceeds abnormally; in other cases, on the con- 

 trary, there may have been an excessive carbohydrate nutrition. 

 Mattill, Mayer and Sauer (1212) state that the glucose tolerance of 

 atrophic children is higher than normally. Gladstone (1213) recom- 

 mended a fruit-juice therapy. Cure with breast feeding, and in 

 one case with cow's milk, was described by Marfan (1213a). 



The exudative diathesis of Czerny (1214) is not associated with 

 lack of vitamines, according to Hess (I.e. 918). The condition, 

 however, leads frequently to scurvy, eczema and petechial hemor- 

 rhages. According to Czerny, this disease arises because of the 

 harmful effect of the dietary fat. Schippers (1215) found, in these 

 conditions, a low fat content in the blood. Marfan (1215a) regards 

 athrepsia as a deficiency disease but not as an avitaminosis, and he 

 accepts as the cause a lack of specific enzymes in breast milk. Be- 

 cause of the present better understanding of the nutritive require- 

 ments of infants, a fundamental repetition of these nutritional 

 problems is greatly to be desired. 



