is the causal connection of cretinismwith goi- 

 tre, a disease of the thyroid glands which 

 always accompanies it, I do not know. 



It suffices for our purpose to notice that 

 the severe military selection which ruled in 

 Switzerland, Savoy, and Lombardy for many 

 generations took the strongest and health- 

 iest peasants to the wars, and left the idiot 

 and goitrous to carry on the affairs of life 

 at home. To bear a goitre was to be exempt 

 from military service. Thus in some regions 

 the disease has been a local badge of honor. 

 It is said that when iodine lozenges were 

 given to the children of Savoy in the hope 

 of preventing the enlargement and degen- 

 eration of the thyroid gland, mothers would 

 take this remedy away from the boys, pre- 

 ferring the goitre to military service. 



In the city of Aosta the goitrous cretin has 

 been for centuries an object of charity. 

 There is a special hospice or asylum de- 

 voted to his care and propagation. The idiot 

 has received generous support, while the 

 poor farmer or laborer with brains and no 

 goitre has had the severest of struggles. In 

 the competition of life a premium has thus 



The 



Human 



Harvest 



[63] 



