On Idiotism. ot 
We are told by (a) Fodere that cretinism 
and its different shades, are always an inheri- 
tance from the father or mother, or that one 
of the parents have a large Goitre. He has 
gone farther and stated, that if a goitrous 
male, son of a goitre and demi-cretin, marry 
likewise a demi-cretin, the progeny will be 
a complete Cretin. On the contrary if a 
male Cretin of the second degree, marry a 
healthy female, well formed and intelligent, 
the progeny will be a Cretin of the third 
formation upon the subject, which I shall take the liberty of adding. 
Tt is contained ina letter from near Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, of 
which the following is a copy :---Dear Sir, Idiotism and the Derbyshire 
neck prevail much in the small village of Ireton-wood, near to where I 
teside ; there are very few females free from the full neck, and as many 
as seven or eight Idiots. Two of these idiots have the Derbyshire neck, 
viz, Hannah Yeomans, and Sarah Hutchinson, the last named person 
hasadaughter who is an idiot, but without the full neck.---Ireton-wood 
is situated in a warm valley open to the South, There is a person 
named Joseph Dean, resident in the village of Kirk-Ireton, an idiot with 
the full neck, but the affections are not prevalent there.---The full neck 
as well as idiotism appear to prevail in particlar families, but as far as 
T am able to judge, are not goyerned by situation, so far as regards hills, 
rivers, &c. &c. High winds and frequent rains do not prevail in this 
neighbourhood. I am, Sir, &c. &c. R. Cresswell.—— The above com- 
munication is a very clear and perspicuous statement of the personal 
observations of the writer: it shews the existence of the true cretin, 
or goitrous idiot in Derbyshire ; it shewsalso that idiotism, and goitre, 
exist to a considerable extent simply and uncombined ; it confirms the ge- 
neral observaton that goitre is most frequent in females; and it contra- 
dicts the statement of Pilkington that high winds are very prevalent. 
en on ae : 
(a) Traite du Goitre et du Cretinisme. Par F. E, Foderé, 8vo. 
Paris, p. 136. et 138 
