STUDIES OF PHOSPHORUS OF BLOOD: IV. PHOSPHORUS PARTITION IN THE BLOOD OF CHILDREN WITH DISEASE

The normal variations in the components of blood phosphorus throughout the period of growth have been established in a previous study. 1 It has also been shown that both in severe rickets in rats 2 and in late rickets in children, 3 the ester (acid-soluble organic) phosphorus of the corpuscles as well as the inorganic phosphorus of the serum is much depleted and that during healing an increase in ester phosphorus is often the first alteration in the blood phosphorus with treatment. The phosphatase content is much increased during active rickets, and it decreases slowly with treatment. 3 The following report concerns alterations in the blood phosphorus in diseases of infants and children, particularly such diseases as may be associated with alterations in serum calcium or inorganic phosphorus. The analytic methods used have been discussed in detail elsewhere. 1 Calcium was determined by the Kramer and Tisdall method; 4 the