268 On the Cretins sf the Vallais. 



of their country, and in faft, inftead of beftowing 

 on them particular notice or regard, they are 

 furprifed when aftranger examines them with any 

 fcrupulous attention. I fhould imagine, there- 

 fore, we ought to fearch for fome other caufe. 

 Of the writers who have touched on the Cretin, 

 fome have attributed the misfortune to the fup- 

 pofed caufe of the goitres, fo very common in 

 many of the Swifs peafants, the water they drink 

 being impregnated with fnow, tufa, and fome 

 mineral fubftances wafhed down with it from 

 the neighbouring mountains. That the Cretins 

 are fubjeft to the goitre, muft be acknowledged ; 

 but it fhould at the fame time be remarked, as 

 it is common to the red of the inhabitants, its 

 caufe, whatever it may be, can hardly be fup- 

 pofed to be that of Cretinage. The peafants 

 of the Alps, of Tirol, and many other parts of 

 Switzerland drink water of nearly the fame qua- 

 lity, and have the goitre; but the Cretins are 

 confined to the diftrift I have mentioned, and 

 if they occur in other places, it is merely from 

 a removal with their parents. This hypothefis 

 appears therefore to have been taken up, likcwife, 

 without folid foundation, and the fabric raifed 

 upon it has been built on a fcale too narrow 

 and confined. The air has been, by others, fup- 

 pofed to be the fole caufe of the difafter. 

 Throughou": the whole country they are found 

 in, it is moft certainly unwholefome. They refide, 



in 



