3 JULY 1926, Page 20

RICKETS AND SUNLIGHT

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,--In his article in the Spectator of June 19th, "Crusader does not necessarily imply that Dr. Palm was first or alon: in attributing rickets to lack of sunlight. I remember how about thirty-five years ago Sir William MacEwen told his students, when dealing with bone affections, that he could produce rickets in dogs by rearing them in cellars to which the sun's rays did not penetrate. He was quite definite in his belief that lack of sunlight in Glasgow's slums led to the frequency of rickets in the children brought up there.—I am, Sir, etc., Edinburgh. MALCOLM MACNICOL, M.D.