THE PATHOLOGY OF METABOLISM At this epoch the necessity for the economy- exists not only to supply new material to take the place of that consumed by the vital processes, but also to provide the means for tbe normal growth and normal develop ment of the immature organism. Every disturbance of the normal course of metabolic processes in childhood hinders the normal functions of thc body, and endangers also the normal development of the body, more especially in the first year of life when the general development of the body must take place quickly-. When we consider on the other hand that at no other epoch of life is the organism liable to the same extent to disturbances of nutrition ELS in infancy, we must admit the vital invortance of this subject. Unfortunately the confession must be made that our knowledge of the pathology of metabolism is seanty at the present time. The practical physician must know how limited and how few are the ascertained facts (based on correct theory) on which we can rely- and how weak the links connecting these facts with the results of clinical observation. lie will then be in a position to consider
critically the various schemes and methods of feeding infants, NI hieh depend many of them solely on theoretical speculations and not on observations at the bedside of the sick child.
Since we are justified in assuming that the metabolism of the older child (under normal ELS well as pathological conditions) gradually ap proximates after a certain age to the conditions which hold good in adult life, whereas only infancy takes an entirely separate position in this regard, and since moreover the greater part of the investigations which have hitherto been made concern the first years of life, the following pages will consider in the main the conditions governing metabolism in infancy.