76 ANDREWS. 



nection with the work of Schaumann(i3) and Aron.(i4) They 

 claimed to have demonstrated that the polyneuritis of fowls fed 

 on white rice results from a lack of phosphorus in the food. 

 Later work, however, by independent investigators (15) has shown, 

 I think, conclusively that phosphorus is not a factor in the etiol- 

 ogy of the disease. The analysis of the mother's milk just given 

 confirms the view taken by these latter writers. 



The analyses were made in the division of organic chemistry 

 of the Bureau of Science. 



From the table it will be noticed that the milk from some of the 

 cases has been analyzed at different times. In case No. 1 the 

 first analysis was made August 5, a day or so after the death 

 of the child. The second analysis was made seven weeks later 

 after the death of two puppies which she had nursed (see below) . 

 In case No. 3 the first analysis was made on September 23 and 

 showed the milk to be very rich — so rich that I thought perhaps 

 a mistake had been made and obtained another sample for anal- 

 ysis September 26. This was quite similar to the first. Her 

 milk was again analyzed on October 24 after she had nursed the 

 puppies. At this time the fat content was considerably lower. 



NECROPSY FINDINGS. 



In this series there were 18 necropsies in 8 of which the 

 infants were seen during life. The other cases were referred to 

 us by the various health stations of the city. The submitting of 

 the body for necropsy was voluntary on the part of the parents. 

 As we did not wish to antagonize the relatives the body was dis- 

 sected as little as possible; hence the cranium was opened in 

 only a few cases. 



In those cases that were not seen during life, the parents were 

 visited immediately after the necropsy; and, with either Doctor 

 Calderon or Doctor Hilario acting as interpreter, the history of 

 the child's sickness was obtained. In all instances this agreed 

 with the clinical findings of those cases we had observed. 



The macroscopic findings in these 18 cases agreed in all par- 

 ticulars with those examined two years ago. At that time we 

 did not report on the histologic findings, because the cadavers 

 were not fresh. In this series several of the bodies were autop- 

 sied a few hours (four to six) and most of them within fourteen 

 hours after death. The condition encountered in these necrop- 

 sies may be outlined as follows : 



The body is that of an apparently well-nourished infant, that 

 is, plump ; the skin is usually pale and ansemic. The face is full 

 with almost a swollen appearance. The flesh of the thighs and 



