238 



Not drinking 

 snow water, 



water from, 

 melted ice, 



or calcareous 

 water. 



Bronchocele 

 not peculiar to 

 mountains. 



progress of 

 Cretinism. 



ACCOUNT OF CRETINISM. 



to these general < *uu .-• s. The notion of snow n alt r being 

 the cause of goitre, anil consequently oi' cretinism, seems 

 to have been derived Ironi JJljny (Lib. 11 cap. 37,) and 

 copied by almost every succeeding writer, because it coin- 

 cides with their hypotheses of cold and crude matters, al- 

 though directly contrail ietcd 1 y tacts. In the first place, 

 persons born in places contiguous to the glaciers, who 

 drink no other water than what tiows fr»m the meiiing of 

 ice and snow, are not subject to this disorder; and se- 

 condly, the disorder is observed in places where snow is un- 

 known. 



The theory of water impregnated with calcareous matter 

 being the cause is equally unfounded ; because the common 

 waters of Switzerland excel those of every other country in 

 Europe for purity and flavour. There is not a village, or 

 a valley, but what is enlivened by limpid rivulets or streams 

 pishing from the rocks. The water usually drunk at la 

 Batia and Martigny is from the river Dranse, which flows 

 from the glacier of Saint Bernard, and falls into the 

 Rhone; it is remarkably free from earthy matter, and well 

 tasted. At Martigny there are two or three pumps, the 

 water of which is pure and equally fit for culinary purposes, 

 but said to be unwholesome, without any good reason. At 

 Bern, the water is extremely pure, yet, as Hailer remarks, 

 swellings of the throat are not uncommon in both sexes, 

 although cretinism is rare. With regard to the alleged 

 causes of goitre, the general opinion of its being endemial 

 in mountainous countries is of no value, because the disease 

 is rare in Scotland, and very common in the county of 

 Norfolk. 



The causes of cretinism begin to operate upon the system 

 soon after, perhaps even before birth ; the want of energy 

 in the parent is communicated to the offspring; the chil- 

 dren become deformed and cachectic very early in life, the 

 growth and developement of the body is impeded, the ab- 

 domen becomes enlarged, and the glands swelled in vari- 

 ous degrees ; and the powers of the mind remain dormant, 

 or become entirely obliterated, partly from want of proper 

 organization, and partly from total neglect of every thing 

 like education. 



It 



