The Acidotic State of Normal New-Borns

The work of Ylippo, in 1914, was a stimulus to the study of this subject in new-borns.He claims to have found (1) that the human organism at birth is in a state of "physiologic acidosis"; (2) that the blood shows an "acidotic constitution" (he having found the Ph of the blood to be as low as 6.58); (3) that the CO2 dissociation curve of the blood of new-borns shows an acidosis (20 per cent, less than in adults), and (4) that the hydrogen concentration is uniformly higher than in adults.Of the many methods for determining acidosis, the two most accurate are, first, the chemical study of the blood, and second, the study of the CO2 alveolar tension.The method for deter- mining the CO2 alveolar tension is simple and in most conditions an accurate one for determining acidosis.So far as we know this has never been determined in new-borns.Alveolar air is the air which is in or comes from the alveolae of the lungs.As the exchange of C02 between the lungs and the blood takes place in the alveolae, the tension of the different gases in the 1.