EFFECTS OF INANITION ON THE BODY AS A WHOLE 



83 



As to the effects of inanition during childhood, a large amount of data has 

 accumulated from observations upon school-children. One of the first estab- 

 lished facts is that the children of the poorer classes average in height and weight 

 below those of the well-to-do of the same age (Pagliani '79; Landsberger '87; 

 Geissler and Uhlitzsch '88; Geissler '92; Boas '97; Pfaundler '16; and others). 

 This is ascribed to underfeeding and malnutrition, along with other unfavorable 

 hygienic conditions. Even among the wealthier classes, many children are 

 malnourished, due to improper feeding (including various types of partial 

 inanition) rather than to underfeeding. 



Fig. 36. — Field graph showing the body lengths (circles) and weights (dots) for atrophic 

 infants of the first year, plotted according to age. The larger circles and dots represent original 

 Minnesota data; the others are from various sources. The curves for normal body weight and 

 length are from data compiled by Prof. R. E. Scammon. Note that in the malnourished cases 

 the weight is subnormal to a much greater degree than the height. 



Medwedjew ('82) observed the growth in length of 50 individuals during 

 the great Russian famine, but his original publication was inaccessible to me. 

 Nicolaeff ('23) found the body weight 20-40 (sometimes 50) per cent sub- 

 normal for age among children 1-16 years old at Kharkow during the recent 

 Russian famine. The conditions in Russia are described also by Morgulis ('23). 

 Stefko ('23a) found that the girls, having more body fat, showed greater loss 

 in weight, but lower mortality. 



Even in countries like the United States, where extreme poverty is relatively 

 infrequent, numerous investigations have revealed a surprisingly large number 

 of apparently malnourished school-children, at least in the large cities. Thus 

 Sill ('09) found 40 per cent of 1,000 primary school-children, in the Jewish 

 quarters of East Side New York, malnourished and subnormal in weight. 

 He cites evidence of a similar prevalence of malnutrition in London and Edin- 



