There is no paucity of literature concerning the metabolism of calcium in infancy, but very little is known regarding the factors that may influence it; even the effect of the organic ingredients of milk, with the exception of fat, has been very little studied, and there are many facts regarding the influence of fat that are not entirely clear. There is a still greater gap in our knowledge with regard to the effect of inorganic compounds on calcium metabolism. How calcium salts themselves act on the retention of calcium has been studied to a certain extent, it is true, but as to the influence of other salts, our knowledge remains very meager.
THE EFFECTS OF ALKALI
Dugois and Stolte1 were the first to study the effect of alkali on calcium retention in infancy. They attribute the favorable effect of Keller's malt soup on calcium retention to the alkali contained