[Diagnostic criteria of rickets: an historic study (author's transl)]

This paper presents an historic study of the medical criteria used for the diagnosis of rickets up to the present time. It mainly refers to diagnosis at very early stages. The publications edited in Spain were chiefly used as source material. Attention is drawn to the progress in clinical and differential diagnosis in each historic period. The physiopathological mentality tried to discover biochemical sings at early stages which were characteristic of the illness. These data later suffered a progressive devaluation so that nowadays the early diagnosis of the illness represents an almost identical challenge to that of the XIXth century.