This study was undertaken because of the unexpected results obtained in an examination of the blood-pressure in a marked case of anemia in an infant. The history of this case will be given in detail further on. It was found on looking up the literature that there were very few data as to the blood-pressure in infancy, whether in health or in disease, and practically nothing as to the blood-pressure in anemia in infancy.
Shaw,1 using Gärtner's tonometer, made 400 measurements on forty-five children ranging in age from 3 months to 12 years. He found that the systolic pressure under normal conditions varied between 90 and 110 mm. He also found that the age of the child appeared to have very little influence on the height of the blood-pressure.
Cook and Briggs2 found that the systolic pressure during the first two years varied between 75 and 90 mm.