48 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATIONAL NEEDS 



children who are chiefly concerned — often display- 

 such deficiency. In connection with a point such 

 as this a study of national supply or even of family 

 budgets gives only partial information. Even when 

 the total family food-budget is satisfactory, ignorant 

 and ill-judged feeding of the child members is both 

 possible and common. 



The worst of it is that at present the facts are 

 not generally recognised even by the medical profes- 

 sion, and the ill-health with which such deficiencies 

 as we have been considering are associated is, in my 

 belief, misunderstood and wrongly treated. 



The case of rickets, however, stands out. Rickets 

 is very common in this country. True rickets is 

 a disease which, though crippling, is not fatal in 

 itself. It is, nevertheless, a factor of supreme im- 

 portance to the country because of its indirect 

 effect upon the infantile death-rate. The child who 

 is rickety is much more prone to other ailments 

 — much more vulnerable in all respects — than a 

 normal child. I will not dogmatise with regard 

 to its origin. The mere suspicion that it may be 

 due to a specific dietetic error, such as a deficiency 

 in the supply of the fat-soluble vitamine, should 

 awaken instant interest. Once we are convinced of 

 the primary importance of this factor it will become 

 of national importance to look to the question not 

 of the quantity alone, but of the quality of the fats 

 in the diets of infants and of nursing mothers. 



