844 



PETER BASSOE 



the males and transmitted through the father (Levi). There is no evi- 

 dence of endocrin disorder. Rontgenologically the sella turcica is normal. 

 These dwarfs, unlike the hypophyseal ones, are small at birth. As an 

 example we will select Case III in Levi's article as he considers this one 

 particularly typical. 



This little man (Fig. 2) was 33 years old, measured 111 cm. (43^ 



inches) and weighed 25 kg. His mother 

 and his four grandparents had been of 

 normal size and enjoyed excellent health, 

 while his father was a dwarf of the same 

 size as the patient. Five brothers were of 

 normal size and no cases of dwarfism, other 

 than the father, were known either in the 

 family or in the vicinity. Unlike most 

 cases of this class, the patient was said not 

 to have been very small at birth. He 

 walked and talked early, and dentition was 

 normal. He practically ceased to grow be- 

 tween the ages of eight and ten years but 

 normal puberty was attained at fifteen. 

 Except for his size he was normal in every 

 way. Levi gives detailed measurements 

 and a full description of the examination 

 )f his organs and their function, everything 

 being found to be normal. This dwarf 

 married a woman of normal size. Levi 

 describes their first child, a girl of 22 

 months who weighed 2 kilograms at birth 

 and at the time of observation was of the 

 size of a normal child of one year. She- 

 was healthy, well proportioned, and re- 

 sembled the father closely. Levi believes 

 she will remain a dwarf. 



To the primordial dwarfs undoubtedly 

 belong many of the famous dwarfs of cir- 

 cuses and museums, such as "General Tom 

 Thumb" ; his wife, Lavinia Warren, and 



their companion "Commodore Nutt." The principal data regarding them 

 and other "professional" dwarfs have been compiled by Hastings Gilford 

 in his book. Most of the dwarfs described by him as instances of "sexual 

 ateleiosis" (dwarfs with normal soxual development) probably belong 

 here, while under the head of "asexual ateleiosis" lie describes Paltauf's ' 

 case and others preferably placed in the group of hypophyseal dwarfism. 

 Gilford rather minimizes the role of the demonstrable disorders of the 



Fig. 1. Essential dwarfism. 

 After E. Levi, Nouv. Iconogr. de la 

 Salpetriere, 1910. 



