A VILLAGE DocTor’s CLINIC 73 
one of my first patients on coming to the State some 
sixteen years ago. She is a cretin. When she came 
to me, her condition had not been recognized by any 
other physician. She was seventeen years old and 
almost an imbecile. She was 4314 inches tall, her girth 
at the umbilicus was 2334, inches and around the chest, 
below the nipples, it was 2214. She was of squat figure, 
her face was broad and putty-like in color. Her ex- 
pression was stupid, her mouth hung open, she had very 
imperfect speech and answered questions slowly. She 
could scarcely walk across the room without being 
tired. All her bodily functions were slow. The bowels 
and kidneys were inactive, and heart action was feeble. 
The treatment originally recommended at that time 
was thyroid extract, gr. V, t.idd. The improvement 
was marvelous. After only one week’s treatment, the 
patient ran away from home, and a neighbor found 
her a mile away. The girl became so lively and mis- 
chievous that her mother told me she didn’t know 
whether she should continue with my treatment or not. 
Said she: ‘Ethel used to be such a good girl that if 
she died I knew she would go to heaven; but since 
taking your treatment she is getting so naughty that 
I don’t know where she would go if she died.” Ethel 
made progress mentally also. She learned to read and 
write. She grew nearly twelve inches in a year. 
Ethel never became very strong. When she was a 
little more than twenty, her teeth began decaying. She 
was subject to myalgia and neuralgia. She caught cold 
easily. Her recuperative powers were below par. On 
this account, we are endeavoring to “remineralize”’ her 
system and she is also receiving half a grain of thyroid 
three times a day. 
Well, let’s shut up the office and chat for a while 
about these people. The cases seem to have been chosen 
somewhat at random; but it will be found that they 
are the usual cases met routinely by every general 
