THE ASPIRATION OF STEARATE OF ZINC IN INFANCY: A CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

During the past few years stearate of zinc has largely replaced talcum as a dusting powder in the nursery. With its ever widening use there has developed a striking increase in the number of disastrous results in infants from its accidental aspiration. We thought it might be worth while to present a clinical study of twelve cases observed by one of us (Heiman) and the results of experiments with zinc stearate insufflation in animals (Aschner). The cases were observed in private practice and in the Children's Wards of Mt. Sinai Hospital. To understand the mode of aspiration one must be familiar with the powder as prepared for use in the nursery. It is packed in a cylindrical box having large perforations at one end in order to "shake out" the powder. Usually a sliding cover is provided. The perforations are made unusually large because of the tenacious quality of zinc