ACCOUNT OF CRBTIKISM. t^QQ 



It might be expected, that the dissection* of cretins Little light de- 

 would throw some light upon the series of phenomena as- jJ*J* ■ m &*" 

 soeiated together in the origin and progress of this singular 

 affection ; but the people are so superstitious, that it is very 

 /difficult to procure bodies for anatomical examination. 



However, some dissections have been made, and the ap-^, , , 

 , . x? ^ The skull 



pearances m the cranium are very curious. tfrom the ae- much affected, 



scription of a cretin's skull by Ackerinann, it appears, that 

 the cavity for the reception of the pons Varolii and me- 

 dulla oblongata was completely obliterated, and that in 

 which the cerebellum is lodged so much diminished, that 

 it scarcely exceeded one third of its natural capacity. The 

 return of the venous blood must have been considerably 

 impeded by the maleconformation of the foramina. Ap- 

 pearances nearly similar were observed by Malacarni and 

 by Fodere. 



In the anatomical museum at Vienna, I saw a cretin's Description of 



skull, from which Professor Prochaska was so obliging: as to askuHofacre- 

 , , , , . . . tin thirty years 



permit me to have two drawings taken. It is the cranium old. 



pf a cretin, who died at the age of thirty, yet the fonta- 

 nel le is not closed, the second set of teeth are not out of 

 their sockets, and none of the bones are distinctly and 

 completely formed. The head is very large, the face 

 small ; it is like the skul| of an adult joined to the face of 

 a child ; every part bear/i marks pf irregularity in the 

 grpwth and formation ; and irregular action must have been 

 the concomitant of such a morbid structure, whether the 

 appearances be considered as cause or effect. 



The four angles of the os malae are not well defined ; the 

 zygomatic and maxillary processes of this bone are want- 

 ing ; the nasal processes of the superjor maxillary bone are 

 very large, and exhibit no marks of union with the os 

 malic ; the ossa nasi are very small ; the temporal bone is 

 imperfectly formed; the zygomatic process terminates at 

 the corouojd process of the lower jaw ; the mastoid and 

 styloid processes are wanting, and the pars petrosa remark- 

 ably small ; the squamous portion not distinctly marked ; 

 the os occipitis unusually large, and numerous additional 

 bones, ossa triquetra, along the whole course of tbe larnb- 

 doid suture. The other deviations of the natural structure 



cor- 



