It has been shown that during the period of infancy undernourishment must be extreme to occasion stunting of growth in length. In animals Aron demonstrated that lack of nutrition led to a decrease of the fat and of the muscle of the body, but that the skeleton nevertheless continued to grow, and the ash content of the body to increase. In marasmus, or infantile atrophy, the baby usually grows in length, although its weight remains stationary or decreases. In scurvy we have shown that there is frequently a definite retardation of growth in length, an observation which has been recently confirmed by Epstein in babies which developed this disorder in the foundling asylum of Prague during the war. This fact shows how profoundly the metabolism must be disturbed by this disorder. Figure 25 portrays this retardation in growth and the sharp reaction when orange juice was added to the dietary. It also demonstrates that the growth impulse remains unimpaired and capable of quick response when the essential food factor is furnished. [Illustration: FIG. 25.--Showing retardation of growth in length during the period when no orange juice was given and supergrowth when it was given once more, O. J.=orange juice. O. P. J.= orange-peel juice. Lower curve represents the normal.] =Fever.=--Fever frequently accompanies scurvy. It is generally of a low grade, ranging between 100° and 101°, as may be seen in Fig. 15. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the rise of temperature should be considered as truly scorbutic in nature, as "scorbutic fever," or regarded merely as a condition grafted upon the nutritional disturbance. A phenomenon which might seem to argue for its essential scorbutic character is the sharp subsidence on giving antiscorbutic food. On the other hand, this may quite as well be interpreted as due to a secondary reaction, checking the absorption of toxins or bacteria. High temperatures--for example, fever of 103° or over--are attributable to a complicating infection and should lead to careful examination for the source of the trouble; pyelitis should particularly be borne in mind. In a recent case fever of uncertain origin disappeared following the transfusion of blood.