932 Rachitis. 



Concerning the assimilation of the lime salts of the milk, Uffelmann found 

 that in infants 78 per cent of the lime of the mother's milk is absorbed, but only 

 25 per cent of the lime of cow,'s milk. In calves 97 per cent of the lime of cow's 

 milk is assimilated according to Soxhlet, Bruning left two out of four young 

 dogs of the same litter with their mother and fed the other two from the sixth day 

 on with cow's milk, one of them receiving the milk cooked, the other raw. The 

 first two dogs developed quite normally, but the other two remained back in their 

 development; their belly seemed enlarged, the ends of the costal cartilages thick- 

 ened; the dog fed with raw cow's milk was also feeble, and the fontanelles had 

 remained open. Similar results were obtained in dogs fed with goat's milk, as well 

 as in rabbits, guinea pigs and kids fed with alien milk. 



An opportunity for a deficiency in lime to occur in the 

 organism is afforded more especially in weaned animals. Ex- 

 perience shows that rachitis develops not infrequently in 

 carnivora if they are put on an exclusive vegetable diet, and 

 aside from the small calcium content of vegetable food, the 

 fact is here of importance that the lime salts of plants are 

 used up much less completely than those of animal food (Bunge, 

 Bertram). On the other hand a strict meat diet from which 

 the bones are excluded may also give rise to the development 

 of the disease. In herbivora the principal blame attaches to 

 one-sided feeding with non-nutritious kitchen refuse, potatoes, 

 mealy food substitutes and cow's whey, ground meat, barley 

 and bran, which are known to have a low calcium content. In 

 colts especially the exclusive feeding with bran causes rickets 

 (the so-called bran-disease) while in pigs exclusive feeding with 

 potatoes, barley or maize is a factor. Under the influence of 

 unfavorable conditions of soil and weather (see brittle bones) 

 of course even those food stuffs which ordinarily contain a 

 sufficient amount of lime may become deficient in it. The vary- 

 ing calcium content of drinking water, and a relatively low 

 calcium content of drinking water is probably of importance 

 only in combination with other causes. Nevertheless an ab- 

 normally high content of water in sulphuric acid may become 

 injurious by causing the formation of calcium salts which are 

 only slightly soluble. 



By considering the calcium content of the food on the one 

 hand and the calcium requirements of the growing animals 

 on the other, which vary greatly according to the species and 

 breed, it is always possible to determine whether in a given 

 case a deficiency in lime could occur in the organism. 



Content in calcium and phosphoric acid in the most important foodstuffs, 

 for each 1,000 parts, after Stutzer: Coarse feed — ^Lucerne, 25.2 parts of lime (6.5 

 parts of phosphoric acid); red clover, 20.1 (5.6); bastard clover 13.6 (4.1); espar- 

 sette, 16.8 (4.6); vetch, 16.3 (6.2); peas, 15.6 (6.3); lupine hay, 8.8 (5.8); 

 meadow hay of good quality, 9.5 (4.3); of poor quality, 5.4 (2.3); second crop 

 ("grummet"), 5.1 (4.1); wheat straw, 2.7 (2.0); barley straw, 3.3 (1.8); oat 

 straw, 4.3 (1.5); cornstalks, 4.9 (3.0); pea straw, 15.9 (3.5); vetch straw, 15.6 

 (2.7); wheat chaff, 1.7 (4.0); oat chafe, 4.0 (1.3); barley beards, 12.5 (2.4). 

 Green feed — Lucerne, 8.5 (1.6); red clover, 4.5 (1.5); bastard clover, 2.9 (0.9); 

 esparsette, 4.0 (1.1); meadow feed, 2.8 (1.2); rich grass, 2.6 (1.9); green corn, 

 1.4 (1.0); carrot leaves, 1.5 (1.0). Tubers and roots — Potatoes, 0.3 (1.2); beets, 

 0.3 (0.6). Grain— Oats, 1.0 (7.0); barley, 0.1 (6.6); corn, 0.3 (5.7). Seeds of 

 legumes— Soj beans, 1.5 (12.1); peas, 1.1 (10.0); vetch, 2.2 (9.9). Waste from 

 flour mills— 'Wheat bran, 1.5 (26.9) ; oat bran, 2.1 (34.4) ; barley bran, 1.9 (9.1) ; 



