694 LEWELLYS F. BARKER 



leasing factor in latent tetany and give rise to the manifest syndrome. 

 The diet in, adults should be simple and bland, but it should be an all 

 around diet, including a well balanced ration of proteins, carbohydrates, 

 fats, salts, and vitamins. An excess of meat and of meat extracts 

 (consomme) in the diet should be especially avoided. 



In children presenting signs of the spasmophile diathesis, a proper diet, 

 together with sunshine, light, and air, is important as a prophylactic and 

 curative measure. During the suckling age, mother's milk is the best food, 

 but if artificial feeding become necessary, cow's milk should be reduced 

 to the smallest amount possible, and the amount of milk ingested should not 

 exceed one third, or at most, one half litre per day. A moderate amount 

 of carbohydrate should be given in the form of farinaceous foods or of 

 malt soups. Older sucklings should be early accustomed to a mixed diet 

 that, among other constituents, contains green vegetables and apple sauce. 

 Large meals at any one time should be avoided in children that are sub- 

 ject to laryngospasm or to eclamptic attacks. 



The pediatricians who treat tetany and the spasmophile diathesis 

 recommend the use of phosphorus and codliver oil internally. 



B Phosphorus 0.01 



Oleum jecoris aselli 100.0 



Sig: One teaspoonful to be administered once or twice a day for 

 several weeks at a time. 



In administering calcium lactate to children, one gives 0.5 to 1 gram 

 dissolved in 50 grams of water three times a day. L. F. Meyer has recom- 

 mended the use of calcium bromide instead of calcium lactate. 



Laryngospasm and eclampsia in children require the adoption of 

 certain special therapeutic measures. A dose of castor oil, say a teaspoon- 

 fill, should be given at once, and if there be much flatulence, the intestine 

 may be emptied by enema and the procedure repeated in two hours. If 

 the little patients are taking milk, it should be stopped at once, and for 

 twenty-four hours only weak tea sweetened with saccharine or simply 

 sterile water should be given. Salt solution should be avoided. The 

 child should then bo given human milk by a wet-nurse if possible; other- 

 wise, gruels containing rice or oatmeal slightly sweetened may be fed. 

 After four to six days of this treatment, the mixture of phosphorus and 

 codliver oil above mentioned may be begun. Then only dare one cau- 

 tiously add a little cow's milk to the diet, say 50 grams per day at first, 

 gradually increasing the amount if severe laryngospasm or convulsions 

 do not recur. One must be willing to let the child go without any gain in 

 weight for several weeks, if necessary. 



In severe eclamptic attacks, especially when they are often repeated, 

 we have to depend upon tepid baths, colonic irrigations, cold compresses 

 to the forehead, and, when necessary, chloral hydrate, best administered 

 per rectum, 0.5 gram at a dose for sucklings, repeating the dose if nee- 



