On Idiotism. 97 
that a surgeon in Switzerland informed him, 
that he had extracted earthy concretions from 
the goitrous tumour, has contributed mate- 
rially to. make the opinion more popular. 
Small portions of earthy matter may possibly 
be deposited in the cells of the Thyroid 
gland, as we frequently see it occur in various 
other parts of the system; but the circum- 
stance in this organ is extremely rare, being 
unnoticed by medical writers. Goitre in its 
commencement appears to bean accumulation 
of blood in the vessels, which in a more ad- 
vanced stage relieve themselves by pouring 
a viscid mucus secretion into the cells of the 
(a) gland; an enlargement of the Thyroid 
gland from vascular fullness, is not uncom- 
mon with new born infants, which early sub- 
sides without medical treatment. In further 
opposition to this opinion supported by Coxe, 
I shall remark that the disease was observed by 
Dr. Richardson (b) to be most prevalent, near 
to the source of the river, upon whose banks 
(a) In Baillie’s beautiful engravings of Morbid Anatomy is a section 
of a goitrous Thyroid, and also a view of the enlarged gland encircling 
the Larynx and Trachea. ‘In this disease the gland is much enlarged 
“ beyond its natural size, and formed into a great number of cells con- 
“taining a very viscid fluid. This fluid becomes solid like a jelly when 
“the gland has been kept sometime in proof spirits.’ Vide Fascicul 
2d. plate \st. 
(b) See Franklin’s Journey, p, 118. 
N 
