ACCOUNT OF CRETINISM. %Q5 



It li;i<l probably existed long in those parts; for Plater 

 mentions cretins as being very common both in the Valais 

 and in Carinthia, but the peculiar marks of these wretched 

 beings w$re not generally known before he described them*. 

 Moils, de Saussure has furnished the most minute and ac- 

 curate account both of the appearances of the disorder, and 

 of the circumstances which seem to produce it; and Mr. 

 Coxe and several travellers have noticed the symptoms of 

 cretinism, without adducing any satisfactory explanation of 

 the causes to which it may be ascribed. Malacarni of Tu- 

 rin and Professor Ackermann have given a very accurate 

 description of several cretins that they dissected ; and be- 

 side some detached essays by different authors, a very full 

 account of this malady is to be found in an *' Essai sur ie 

 Goitre ct Critinisme par M, Fodere" published at Paris ii) 

 1800. 



My curiosity led me some time ago to inquire more par- Usually con- 

 ticularly into the nature and causes of cretinism, because it nected witlx 

 is usually connected with goitre, or bronchocele ; J was in- 

 deed led to this inquiry, partly by the hope of discovering 

 some function for the thyroid gland, more satisfactory than 

 what is commonly alleged; but in these expectations I have 

 been disappointed. 



In the summer of 1805, I had an opportunity of seeing » . 



several cretins at Martigny and Sion, and other villages in 

 ihe Valais; and I was glad to compare what had been writ- 

 ten upon that subject, with what my own observation could 

 suggest. By inquiries on the spot, I intended to learn objects of in 

 what connection subsisted between weakness of the inteltec- <l uir y« 

 tual faculties and the swelling of the thyroid gland : what 

 were the moral and physical circumstances, which could inr 

 fluence the condition of the inhabitants, so as to make idiocy 

 so prevalent; and what were the most efficient modes, of re- 

 lief The following results I beg leave to Jay before the 

 Royal Society. 



Cretinism is found not only in the vallies of the Alps, Cretinism 



both on the French and Italian side of these mountains, but common to . 

 • A . • r ,-, to- -i • mountainous 



in the mountainous parts oi dermany and Spam; and it was countries. 



• F. Tlateri Praxeps Medicc. Cap. III. Basil. iG5G. 



observed 



