ZOOLOGY. 363 



Thus the number of cretins is 27 per cent, of the whole popula- 

 tion, and of goitres 0.82. The opinion of Saussure, that cretinism 

 does not exist more than 3.280 feet above the sea, is unfounded, as 

 numerous cases were found at a height of 5,248 feet. London Athc- 

 n&urn, July. 



The following additional facts drawn from the same report, we ex- 

 tract from the Medico- Chirurgical Review, for October: The cretin 

 is unable to walk until the sixth or seventh year. It is about the sev- 

 enth year that the disease becomes really developed. There seems to 

 be no intermediate age between childhood and puberty (usually about 

 20), or between puberty and old age. In the adult state the stature 

 rarely exceeds 1 metres, and a great number of individuals examined 

 did not reach 0.975 metres. The feet are too large for the body, the 

 head large and pendent, the chest too small, and a protuberant belly 

 is supported by wasted legs. The head is almost always misshapen. 

 The eyes are distorted by convergent strabismus, and are without the 

 slightest expression. The mouth is large, with swollen lips. The 

 tongue, too, is of large size. The sexual organs are, in some cretins, 

 of enormous size, and in others atrophied. In proportion to the de- 

 gree of imbecility, the respiration and circulation are slower, and the 

 temperature reduced. True cretins do not possess the power of re- 

 production, but semi-cretins occasionally do. Blind cretins are rare. 

 Hearing is defective, and true cretins seem to be destitute of smell or 

 taste, while touch is little developed. They are very indifferent to 

 extremes of heat and cold. The voice resembles the howling of an 

 animal. More or less imbecility is a constant characteristic, and ex- 

 ists in proportion to the intensity of the disease. They rarely live 

 beyond 40 years, and then only under favorable circumstances. In 

 fact, the duration of life seems to be from twenty to forty years, the 

 maximum relating to incomplete, and the minimum to complete cre- 

 tinism. It is rare to find a family in which it prevails reaching the 

 fifth generation. 



CURE FOR STAMMERING. 



AT the Boston Society of Natural History in February, Dr. Warren 

 alluded to a simple, easy, and effectual cure for stammering, which is 

 known to be generally a mental, and not a physical defect. It is, 

 simply, at every syllable pronounced, to tap at the same time with the 

 finger ; by so doing, the most inveterate stammerer will be surprised 

 to find that he can pronounce quite fluently, and by long and constant 

 practice he will pronounce perfectly well. This may be explained in 

 two ways, either by a sympathetic consentaneous action of the nerves 

 of voluntary motion in the finger and in those of the tongue, w r hich is 

 the most probable; we know, as Dr. Gould remarked, that a stam- 

 merer, who cannot speak a sentence in the usual way, can articulate 

 perfectly well when he introduces a rhythmical movement, and sings 

 it ; or it may be that, the movement of the finger distracts the attention 

 of the individual from his speech, and allows a free action of the 

 nerves concerned in articulation. 



