[The "Meghetometro": an apparatus to measure the body volume in vivo].

Here above the author describes a new apparatus ("meghetometro") to measure the body volume "in vivo" of infants which will also be utilizable for children and adults, if made of larger size. The working principle of the "meghetometro" is the following. The subject under examination will be put into a container filler with air and his volume will be drawn from the pressure variations produced in the gaseous matter (air) as a consequence of the (known) volume variation of the container itself. The value of the volume is of course only a factor that enables us to go back to the specific weight of the subject taken into consideration. We believe the specific weight may have a considerable clinical importance, for example as a symptom of some cases of disendocrinopathy or as an evaluation element of dehydration and edema.