746 



FRANCIS H. McCRUDDEN 



The amount of CaO lost in ten days was about 1.0 gram. But this 

 is nearly five per cent of the amount in the food, and over three times 

 the average daily amount in the urine; and the loss is probably chiefly 

 through the urine, since the amount in the urine is nearly double the 

 normal. Furthermore, everything else was being retained, the retention 

 running from three per cent in the case of magnesium to nineteen per 

 cent in the case of sulphur. At the time of the investigation, the patient 

 was in relatively good condition. If we could have studied her condition 

 when the process was more active, even greater losses, such as were found 

 in some of the other studies, would probably have been found. In one of 

 the experiments of McCrudden, there was an average daily loss of 

 nearly one gram of CaO per day. And Berger(6) speaks of a case in 

 which he found in the urine 9.0 grams CaO per day. All these varia- 

 tions are far outside normal limits. Towle has pointed out that, unless 

 very large quantities of calcium are administered, there is a close parallel- 

 ism between calcium and nitrogen metabolism in health. The same holds 

 true for the other elements. And when there is retention, as for example 

 during pregnancy, there is a parallelism between the amount of nitrogen 

 and mineral salts retained (Hoffstrom). Table 21 shows how close the 

 parallelism may be in a normal person (McCrudden and Fales(&)). 



TABLE 21 



INTAKE AND OUTGO OF HEALTHY BOY 



The data from metabolism observations in different stages of osteo- 

 malacia demonstrate the significance of the figures in another way. They 

 bring out the close correspondence between the clinical condition of the 

 bones and the metabolism of the constituents of the bones (Tables 22, 23, 

 24). 



TABLE 22 



INTAKE AND OUTGO DURING ACTIVE STAGE OF OSTEOMALACIA 



