The Use of Banana Pulp in the Feeding of Marasmic Infants.

The experience of all childrens' physicians in the feeding of marasnil infants is, I suppose, identical. It is not difficult to devise a method of feeding which shall be sufficient in quantity, and scientific in quality, and further is tolerable to the infant: but it is extremely difficult to secure that such a food shall be absorbed and built up into the tissues of the body. I am, of course, using the term marasmus in a strict sense to indicate that condition in which wasting disease is progressive or stationary without sufficient discoverable cause. In such cases it is, I believe, a common experience for the physician to find that in spite of his efforts to contrive a food which will benefit his patient, the condition remains unaltered for many weeks, with no gain in weight or strength, and yet with no appreciable lack of capacity in the digestion of the various foodstuffs of which trial is made. Further it is, I think not uncommon to find that such infants begin to put on weight, if their food contains an excess of carbohydrate material; and it is probable that this factor is mainly responsible for the reputation of some of the proprietary foods which contain starch or starch-products in large quantity. Yet even with the use of such foods there is a proportion of marasmic infants, who steadily refuse to improve and are the despair of the physician and the nurse. It is with cases of this type that I have lately experimented with the use of ripe banana pulp to supply the excess of carbohydrate which seems to be required, and the sudden and to me the unexpected improvement appears to be worth recording. The cases to which I shall refer are six in number; four of the true marasmic type, and two " ruminators."