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Of this heightened irritability of the nervous system, to which the name "spasmophilia" has been given in America and on the Continent, the most striking symptom is a liability alike to tetany or carpo-pedal spasm, to generalised convulsions, and to laryngismus stridulus.

It is in keeping with this that clinically we note how frequently spasmophilia and rickets occur in the same child.

The ætiology of spasmophilia is still a matter for dispute, but the evidence which we possess is in favour of the view that we Page 82 have here to deal with a disturbance of calcium metabolism.

For our present purpose—the examination of some common neuroses of nursery life—it would be out of place to enter into a detailed consideration of this disorder of spasmophilia as a whole.

To control or prevent it we must direct attention not only to the condition of spasmophilia, but also to the management of the children who are always excitable and emotional.