GIGANTISM 



833 



Hudbvernig. This boy at the time of the first report was 5% years old, 

 measured 137 cm. and weighed 35.5 kg. The genitalia were of adult size. 

 When he sat on a woman's lap erections had been observed. The ossifica- 

 tion of the metacarpal bones was nearly completed. He was backward 

 mentally. Thyroid treatment gave no results but, curiously enough, he 

 improved both mentally and physically on ovarian substance. The testicles 

 actually decreased in size! 



Anton relates the following 

 case: A female child of nor- 

 mal ancestry and normal early 

 infancy developed very rapidly. 

 She walked and talked at one 

 year. Menstruation began at 

 three years, lasted three to four 

 days, but occurred only twice a 

 year. When examined at six 

 years of age she had the appear- 

 ance of a girl in the 'teens, was 

 140 cm. tall (4 ft. 8 in.) and 

 had well developed breasts, 

 broadened hips, and pubic and 

 axillary hair. She was also pre- 

 cocious mentally. The sella was 

 moderately enlarged, but vision 

 and the eye grounds were nor- 

 mal. At nine years she meas- 

 ured 150 cm., the blood pressure 

 was 85 mm., and the blood 

 showed relative increase in 

 lymphocytes. The thyroid was 

 moderately enlarged. ~No thy- 

 mus shadow could be made 

 out. 



Sanz's case is unique, show- 

 ing features of gigantism, acromegaly and pseudohypertrophic muscular 

 dystrophy in a boy of 11 years, 170 cm. tall. Prognathism was extreme, 

 and the nose prominent. 



"Giant infants" are now and then recorded, 'but not in sufficient detail. 

 Thus Hastings Gilford relates the case of a Welsh boy, of usual size at 

 birth, who began to grow very rapidly at the age of nine months. When 

 he was examined at 13 months he was 91 cm. long and weighed 27 kilo- 

 grams. There was a tremendous overgrowth of subcutaneous fat, but his 

 muscles were exceedingly well developed and he seemed as strong as the 

 average child of 8 or 9 years. He died a month later, supposedly of a 



Fig. 19. Anterior and posterior view of 

 precocious girl of six years. (After Anton, 

 Monatsschrift. f. Psych, u. Neurol.) 



