Etiology/ 951 



contained in the superficial strata of the soil cannot be dis- 

 solved and absorbed sufficiently. Food grown under such con- 

 ditions is to be compared in regard to its food value to the 

 sour grasses growing in very wet, boggy and swampy regions, 

 which are not only poor in proteids and in mineral substances 

 (Morgen), but are moreover difficult to digest and easily pro- 

 duce gastric catarrh through irritating substances which they 

 contain. 



The. .pakiuni content of' the food varies within wide limits, according to 

 the conditions of soil. Germain found, for instance, in 1,000 parts of hay, of 

 a region in which osteomalacia was frequent, only 2.97 parts of lime, while in 

 another hay of good quality the amount of lime present was 24.05 parts. Both 

 kinds of hay contained like amounts of phosphoric acid. Karmrodt found 6.77 

 parts of lime and 2.25 parts of phosphoric acid ; Morgen 3.7 and 6.7 parts of 

 lime and 2 resp. 2.6 parts of phosphoric acid; Dircks found in three samples of 

 Norwegian forest hay only 1.85, 2.79 and 2.78 parts of lime, and 1.55, 1.43 and 

 1.29 parts of phosphoric acid (Kellner). (For the normal percentage of lime an<l 

 phosphoric acid of the food-stuifs, see page 932.) 



A deficiency of lime in the organism may, however, also 

 occur under favorable soil and meteorological conditions, when 

 food-stuffs, which naturally contain only small amounts of lime, 

 are taken largely and for a long time; such food-stuffs are 

 carrots, potatoes, grains and their waste products, grain-straw, 

 slops, molasses, whey. Usually the unfavorable influence of 

 soil or meteorological factors and of food poor in lime become 

 manifest simultaneously since such food-stuffs are fed in con- 

 siderable amounts in place of better feed when the latter is 

 not available in sufficient quantities. 



In regard to the insufficient absorption of lime salts to 

 the improper chemical composition and, perhaps, to the diges- 

 tive disturbances which may act as causes of a deficient lime 

 content in the organism, the same is true that has already been 

 said in the chapter on rachitis (see p. 933). Haubner and Roll 

 have observed osteomalacia especially after the feeding of food 

 that had been exposed to the smoke from smelters. 



Sometimes the deficiency of lime in the drinking water 

 appears to be of importance, at least Kasparek saw the disease, 

 which had become stationary on an estate, disappear after the 

 introduction of hard drinking water. 



Further factors in depriving the organism of its lime are 

 pregnancy and especially lactation, since in these conditions 

 very considerable amounts of lime are withdrawn from the 

 organism (see lime content of the milk, p. 931 ). 



With the exception of females during pregnancy and lactation the lime require- 

 ments of adult animals are nuich less in proportion to the body weight than in 

 growing animals, although in these also the lime requirements usually diminish 

 rapidly toward the end of the first year of life (see page 931). While a calf 

 from 2-3 weeks old and weighing 50 kg. needs a daily supply of 14.5 gm. of 

 calcium and of 13.8 gm. of phosphoric acid (Lehmann), this need is only 21 

 and 19 gm., respectively, in a calf one year old (Kellner). The calcium require- 

 ments of a pregnant cow are 51 gm. per day and 25 gm. of phosphoric acid (Bous- 

 singault), those of a milk cow with a daily milk production of 20 liters are 200 



