176 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



Weber ('21) compared the weights of the brain in 1,257 autopsies among 

 civilians at Kiel during the separate years 1914-1918. Body lengths are 

 available, but not body weights. The brain weight averages 1,357 g- m the 

 males, and 1,246 g. in the females, with no apparent difference between the 

 period of good nutrition (1914-1915) and the period of subnutrition (1916- 

 1918). 



Brain Weight in Atrophic Infants. — Von Buhl ('6i) found in 52 cases the 

 average brain weight of the newborn about 352 g. (range 193.5-482). In 

 infants dying in the second or third week after birth, the average brain weight 

 found was 41 1.5 g. "So ist damit unumstosslich dargethan, dass mit der Ab- 

 nahme des Korpergewichts das des Gehirnes nicht oder doch am wenigsten 

 abnehme." Parrot ('82) published a table showing the brain weight averaging 

 286.7 g- m IO infants 1-7 days of age, with average body weight of 1,994 g.; 

 and 359.7 g. in 26 infants 8-36 days of age, with body weight of 1,969 g. 

 Manouvrier deduced from these data the independent growth of the brain during 

 inanition in infancy; but he failed to exclude the possibility that in the latter 

 group the brain during an earlier period of normal growth might have attained 

 its greater weight, which was not lost subsequently, in spite of a possible decrease 

 in body weight. 



Similarly Ohlmiiller ('82) observed that the brain and spinal cord combined 

 weighed 528.8 g. in a well nourished infant of 56 days (body weight 4149.5 g.); 

 while in an atrophic infant of 56 days (body weight 2,381.2 g.), they weighed 

 only 480.9 g. This does not justify the conclusion that there has been a decrease 

 in the weight of the brain and cord in the atrophic infant, because its previous 

 body weight is not stated. Ohlmiiller cited data showing that in the newborn 

 the brain weight averages 13 per cent of the body weight, increasing to 15-24 

 per cent in emaciated infants up to 42 days old. In the absence of exact data 

 concerning the previous body weights, however, it is impossible to draw any 

 conclusions as to what changes in absolute brain weight have occurred during 

 the period of inanition. Ohlmiiller found no appreciable difference in the 

 water content. There was an apparent increase in fat content of the brain in 

 the atrophic infants, but no appreciable difference in lecithin in the brain and 

 cord of a starved puppy. 



Cantalamassa ('92) at the autopsies of twin infants which had died of star- 

 vation in 11 and 23 days after birth, respectively, observed an unusual degree of 

 overlapping at the sutures between the parietal and frontal bones. This he 

 attributed to reduction in the volume of the brain, but it might equally well be 

 ascribed to increased growth in the cranial bones, or to decrease in the cerebro- 

 spinal fluid. Overlapping at the cranial sutures was also noted in athreptic 

 infants by Thiercelin ('04), who also concluded that: "Le cerveau s'est atro- 

 phic, le liquide cephalorachidien s'est en partie tari, et ce dessechement du 

 contenu de la boite cranienne a mene une depression considerable des fonta- 

 nelles f ormant une veritable cavite dont la profondeur peut atteindre 3 ou meme 

 4 millimetres." 



This brings us to the work of Variot ('07) who first demonstrated that, in 

 addition to the persistent skeletal growth, there is in infants during inanition an 



