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Scientific Proceedings (126) 



exceed the value 30. When healing takes place the concentra- 

 tion of each element approaches the normal so that the value of 

 the product is 40 or above. Since the calcium concentration in 

 normal serum rarely exceeds 11 mg. per 100 c.c. of serum and 

 that of inorganic phosphorus does not go beyond the upper 

 limit of 6 mg. in the same volume of serum the product prac- 

 tically never exceeds the value 66. 

 The present study was undertaken : 



L To test the curative action of direct sunlight upon rachitic 

 changes in the bones of children. 



2. To determine whether the pigmented skin of the negro 

 interfered with the therapeutic action of the sun's rays. 



3. To demonstrate whether direct sunlight is capable of pro- 

 ducing as definite an increase in the concentration of calcium 

 and inorganic phosphorus in the serum as occurs with the agents 

 above named. 



Although Hess and Unger 1 claim to have produced healing 

 of the rachitic process in the bones in from four to six weeks, 

 Hess and Gutman 3 failed to find any significant changes of the 

 inorganic phosphorus of the whole blood when children were 

 exposed to sunlight for the same period. 



Seven colored children suffering from active rickets were stud- 

 ied. Radiograms of all the extremities were taken before treat- 

 ment was begun and at intervals during the treatment. The serum 

 was also analyzed for calcium and inorganic phosphorus. The 

 children were fed on milk dilutions and orange juice, a diet 

 which, from previous experience, we have found will not itself 

 cure rickets. The children were exposed to direct sunlight be- 

 ginning with periods of fifteen minutes duration, then one half 

 hour and finally one hour daily. In spite of intense pigmenta- 

 tion of the skin of some of the children, definite evidence of 

 healing could be demonstrated in each instance by means of 

 the radiogram during the third week of treatment. This was 

 well marked by the end of the third week. 



Table I shows that in every instance before treatment was 

 begun the product of the calcium by the phosphorus concentra- 

 tion of the serum did not exceed 30, indicating the existence of 

 active rickets. A marked change in the concentration of in- 

 organic phosphorus occurred regularly' within fourteen days 



8 IIcss, A. P., and Outman, M. B., Journ. of A. M. A., 1922, lxxviii, 29. 



