536 SUTHERLAND SIMPSON 



also believed that cow's milk is the cause of tetany in bottle-fed infants, 

 and found that, when this was stopped and mother's milk or farinaceous 

 foods substituted, a cure was effected. He also attributed the condition 

 to metabolic disturbances. 



Stoltzner (b) attempted to find the constituent of cow's milk which was 

 responsible for tetany. His conclusion, after much experimental work, 

 was that calcium is retained in the tissues in excessive amount, due to 

 the fact that the associated intestinal disturbance prevented its excretion 

 in sufficient quantity. He would assign as the cause of tetany excessive 

 retention of calcium or calcium stasis. 



Finkelstein (6) also found that cow's milk is more favorable for the 

 development of tetany than human, and since the whey, rather than the 

 curd, appeared to contain the disturbing material, he concluded it is due 

 to the salts which are much more abundant in cow's milk. 



In relation to the fact, well known to clinicians, that tetany seldom 

 occurs while children are at the breast, it is interesting to note that 

 Morel (c), in his experimental work, reported that young parathyroidecto- 

 mized kittens showed no symptoms while suckling, but suffered from 

 acute tetany when weaned. 



Influenced by the work of Sabbatani, Quest analyzed the nervous 

 system in four cases of fatal tetany in children, and found much less cal- 

 cium than in the normal brain. He concluded that the nervous disturb- 

 ances are caused by a depletion of calcium, rather than by its increase, as 

 advocated by Stoltzner. He also found that in the fetus and new-born 

 infant the calcium content of the brain is high, while cortical excitability 

 is low. As age advances, the one diminishes (calcium) and the other 

 increases. He also fed dogs on a calcium-free diet and found that the 

 electrical excitability of these animals was greatly increased. 



Weigert studied two puppies of the same litter. One of them showed 

 symptoms of tetany when fed on cow's milk, and he found that the 

 calcium content of this animal's brain was much below that of the 

 normal. 



Cybulski, studying gastric tetany in children, found a low calcium 

 retention in the convulsive stage, which was increased during convales- 

 cence and in normal health. He believed that the symptoms are due 

 to calcium deficiency in the nervous system. Silvestri (a) held the same 

 opinion. 



Netter (a), in three cases of tetany, noted improvement following the 

 administration of calcium salts by mouth. 



Von Pinjuet (c) and Bogen opposed the teaching of Stoltzner that 

 tetany is duo to the excess of calcium in the system. Both found the oppo- 

 site to be the case, viz., that the administration of calcium reduces the 

 excitability of the nervous system. 



In postoperative tetany, as already mentioned, many investigators 



