An experimental investigation on rickets : two lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England / by Edward Mellanby.

  • Edward Mellanby
Date:
1919?]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: An experimental investigation on rickets : two lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England / by Edward Mellanby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    IT lethargy in a slum or the middle of Hyde Park. The activity of an infant is not to be measured by the amount of running it performs, but by its small movements. My own experience is that confinement will not produce any symptoms of rickets in adequately fed puppies. Results of Investigation in Glasgow. It may not be out of place to refer to the recent statistical account of an investigation made by Miss Ferguson on rickets, more particularly in Glasgow. The results of this work are against the hypothesis that rickets is a dietetic deficiency disease and the general conclusion, although undetermined in a definite sense, is that the factors favour¬ ing the development of rickets are : (1) Insufficient space in houses ; (2) confinement in such houses ; (3) imperfect parental care. No support is given to the dietetic hypo¬ thesis. It is interesting, however, to examine some of the results relating to family budgets in this paper. Below are given the tables relating to the ‘ ‘ average con¬ sumption of food ” (p. 68) in rachitic and non-rachitic families. Now let us consider the tables, obtained by Miss Ferguson, in the light of the accessory factor hypothesis. First, what are the substances in the diets which allow rickets—i. e., are Average Consumption per “ Man ” per Day of the Chief Articles of Diet in Grammes. (1) Rachitic families. (2) Non-rachitic families. — (1) (2) Flour. 387-9 376-2 Potatoes . 291-0 236-8 Milk. 256-0 309-0 Meat. 89-1 92-6 Sugar. 91-4 84-0 Oatmeal 40-4 36-0 (1) (2) Other cereals . 15-6 26-9 Margarine or butter 32 6 38-5 Fish . 15-7 35-9 Eggs . 15-1 30-4 Cheese. 6-7 8-2 deficient in anti-rachitic factor ? The answer is flour, potatoes, sugar, oatmeal, and other cereals. On the other hand, what are the anti-rachitic substances? Milk, meat, margarine or butter, fish, eggs, and cheese. The following table shows how the diets of rachitic and non-rachitic
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