In Peace 



itself in large part a matter of selection. 

 The boy with the goitre is exempt from 

 military service. He remains at home 

 to become the father of the family. It 

 is said that at one time the government 

 of Savoy furnished the children of that 

 region with lozenges of iodine, which 

 were supposed to check the abnormal 

 swelling of the thyroid gland, known as 

 the goitre. This disease is a frequent 

 cause of idiocy, or cretinism, as well as 

 its almost constant accompaniment. It 

 is said that the mothers gave the loz- 

 enges only to the girls, preferring that 

 the boys should grow up to the goitre 

 rather than to the army. The causes 

 of goitre are obscure, perhaps depend- 

 ing on poor nutrition or on mineral 

 substances in the water. The disease 

 itself is not hereditary, so far as known ; 

 but susceptibility to it certainly is. By 

 taking away for outside service those 

 who are resistant, the heredity of ten- 



35 



