Schlapp : Causes of Defective Children 



393 



We have already seen what results 

 from such disturljances. It is a fact, 

 well understood by all neurologists, that 

 women are peculiarly sensitive to emo- 

 tional stresses and to all manner of 

 thrills, fears, and excitements. Woman 

 is by nature more unstable than man. 

 She is ill adapted to the struggle for 

 subsistence and her projection into the 

 vortex of industrial life is daily prov- 

 ing a more and more serious menace to 

 the future of the race. 



Successful Treatment of Defectives 



Our failure to help such cases as the 

 two described is, however, more than 

 compensated by striking success in in- 

 stances where the mother has been less 

 gravely disturbed. The extent to which 

 we have been able to normalize cretins 

 and other thyroid cases has certainly 

 not been the least marvel of modern 

 medicine. These types of children 

 form the majority among the offspring 

 of mothers suffering from the milder 

 forms of chemical imbalance of a cer- 

 tain kind. As is well understood, these 

 children are of two types : (a) those in 

 whom the thyroid gland is absent ; and 

 (b) those in whom it is undeveloped in 

 varying degrees. In either of these in- 

 stances it is apparent that the forma- 

 tive activity in the cells of the child has 

 been selectively inhibited, only the thy- 

 roid being primarily involved. If the 

 gland is absent, the case is, of course, 

 most serious and early treatment is im- 

 perative. If such children can be taken 

 in hand during their first year and the 

 full cooperation of the parent secured 

 to the end that the treatment be con- 

 stant and continuous, we can now com- 

 pletely correct the conditions by the 

 feeding of the required amounts of 

 thyroid substance. In cases where the 

 gland is merely deficient, good results 

 can be secured even after the child has 

 reached the age of two or three years. 



Just here, however, a point of the 

 utmost importance must be understood. 

 Most parents, and, I believe, some doc- 

 tors, labor under the misconception 

 that endocrine material, prescribed in 

 definite cases of bodilv absence or de- 



ficiency, may be taken for a time and 

 then discontinued. As a matter of 

 fact, a child with an absent or deficient 

 thyroid must take the required amounts 

 of thyroid substance regularly and 

 without fail for the rest of its life. 

 The evil results of an opposite policy 

 will be seen in Figure 5. 



If there is a marked deficiency or 

 total absence of thyroid hormone in a 

 child, the growth of the body, particu- 

 larly of the brain, bone structure and 

 hair, will be inhibited and the result 

 will be dwarfing, mental deficiency and 

 monstrosity. (In thyroid cases the 

 gonads are not so seriously affected as 

 in cases where there is a deficiency of 

 the anterior lobe of the pituitary.) 

 Consequently, if this condition is not 

 corrected early in • life, parts of the 

 brain will simply fail to form, and it is 

 apparent that such lost ground cannot 

 be regained. What has never formed 

 cannot be treated. We cannot build 

 brains. All we offer now is help toward 

 their formation by the introduction of 

 the missing endocrine materials which 

 control their growth. 



The happy results of early and con- 

 sistent treatment of thyroid children 

 will be seen from Figures 2 and 3. 



Again in Figure 2, we see the pic- 

 torial history of a child suffering from 

 a dangerous hypothyroidism. In Photo- 

 graph A, we have the child at the age 

 of two ; in Photograph B, after fifteen 

 months of treatment ; in Photograph C, 

 at the age of eleven years, thoroughly 

 normalized, ahead of his grade in 

 school, keen and active. This boy is, 

 of" course, still being treated and he 

 will continue to be ministered to for 

 life. Please note that he suffered from 

 a marked deficiency, and not a total 

 absence, of the gland. Had the latter 

 been the case, he could not have been 

 brought to such excellent health unless 

 treatment had been begun much earlier 

 than the age of two years. 



In Figure 3, Photograph A, we have 

 a cretinous child of six months, at 

 which time treatment was begun. In 

 Photograph B, we see the same child 

 at two years, after consistent treatment. 



