482 VEGETATIVE DISTURBANCES 



B. Paltauf s Du'arf. A . Paltauf described the skeleton of a dwari who died 

 at the age of forty-nine years; all the epiphyses were open. The individual 

 was 112.5 cm. tall; he came from an entirely normal family; the intelli- 

 gence was normal (he had taken part in two campaigns). He had twenty- 

 eight erupted teeth; the thyroid gland was normal: A . Paltauf believes that 

 in this case he was dealing with a nanosomia sui generis that depended 

 on an earlier stage of the formation-age on account of the bones remain- 

 ing at a standstill in development. Also the deformed cartilaginous base 

 of the skull had ceased its growth, while the bones laid down in mem- 

 brane grew further, thus allowing the normal development of the brain; 

 although a slight cretinoid facial expression was thereby brought about. 

 The skeleton is proportioned, but shows childish dimensions, the upper 

 and lower lengths approximating those of a child (Breus and Kolisko). 

 Such individuals may suddenly begin to grow again. A. Paltauf cites two 

 instances, the English dwarf Jeffery, who began to grow again at the age of 

 thirty years, and the Polish dwarf Borwilawski. The brothers and sisters 

 of the latter were also dwarfish, but his children developed perfectly normal. 

 I shall limit myself to the citation of the well-observed cases. 



The case of Schaafhausen was a sixty-one-year-old man, 94 cm. tall; 

 several members of the family were also dwarfish, the genitalia were infantile, 

 the facial expression childish. The sutures of the skull were all ununit'ed, the 

 epiphyses nearly all. The observations of Schauta, Ranke, and von Voit 

 perhaps belong here also. 1 Hitschmann describes a thirty-five-year-old man 

 who came of normal family and who developed normally up to the age of 

 five years. Then growth was retarded, although up to the twenty-fifth and 

 twenty-sixth years he did grow somewhat. He was 108 cm. tall, beardless, 

 the voice did not change, the thyroid gland was normal. X-ray examination 

 showed epiphysial junctures open i^ cm.; the intelligence was normal. He 

 was an actor with a Lilliputian troup. 



A second case of Hitschmann was that of a twenty-two and one-half- 

 year-old singer; the inhibition of growth began at the tenth year. She was 

 125 cm. tall, slender, the intelligence was normal, the epiphyses were for 

 the most part ununited. 



Joachimsthal describes several members of a Lilliputian troup, among 

 whom was an individual thirty years old, in whom the stunting of growth had 

 begun in the third year; at fifteen years of age, she was 90 cm. tall, and at 

 thirty years 100 cm. tall. The facial expression was childish, the voice had 

 not changed and the axillary hair was absent. All epiphysial junctures 

 were open. The bone nuclei were about as well developed as those of a ten- 

 year-old child. In an individual thirty-six years old the inhibition had 

 begun at the age of seven. At the age of twenty-two he was 105 cm. tall, 



1 The case of His, quoted by Paltauf, belongs to the endemic cretins, that of Dalega to the spor- 

 adic cretins. 



