860 



AUGUST STKAUCH 



Gilford divides infantilism into: (A) The essential group, which in- 

 cludes the asexual and sexual types of ateleiosis and progeria ; the causes 

 are entirely unknown and the affection is apparently a freak of develop- 

 ment. (B) The symptomatic group, that includes 

 all the remainder ; the infantilism being secondary 

 to some previous morbid condition. 



The demonstration of infantile conditions of 

 the various organs or organ systems has been much 

 facilitated by radiography, sometimes to a degree 

 impossible by mere clinical methods of examina- 

 tion. Thus, for instance, the topographical rela- 

 tions, forms and evolutionary stages of the thorax, 

 the pelvis and other segments of the skeleton, the 

 stages of ossification, the circulatory organs, the 

 gastro-intestmal tract can be studied with great 

 advantages in their projections on the x-ray plate. 

 As the symptomatology of the various endocrin 

 affections that lead to infantilistic features has 

 been covered in an excellent and exhaustive man- 

 ner, only summarizing paragraphs with a special 

 bearing on our subject are here justified. 



Discussion of Various Types of 

 Infantilism 



Myxinfantilism. This type is most marked in 

 connection with the occurrence of myxedema and 

 cretinism. Hertoghe pointed out that between the 

 "myxedeme franc" (athyreosis) and the functional 

 integrity of the thyroid gland there exist various 

 degrees of deficiency, some of which may be com- 

 patible with the intellectual requirements of ordi- 

 nary life. To these mild forms he applied the term 

 "hypothyroidie benigne chronique," of myxedeme 



intelligence defective. II- fruste. We meet here all gradations from the dis- 

 lustration from author's tinctly cretinoid habitus to slight, hardly recog- 

 nizable disturbances which may be ascertained 

 especially through the rapid improvement upon 

 opotherapy. 



The individuals appear of diminished size, of a more or less infantile 

 exterior with the proportions and the habitus of the infant in his first 

 months of life; viz., a relatively large head, round "full-moon" face, 

 more or less saddle-shaped nose, a short "lower length/' rather cylindrical 



Fig. 1. Hypothyreo- 

 geni<T infantilism Bris- 

 saud's type. Girl 12 

 years and 4 months old. 

 Height 43 1 /o inches (nor- 

 mal 58%); weight 53 

 Ibs. (normal 88 Iba.). 

 Head large, face round, 

 somewhat puffy, with cre- 

 tinoid "worried" expres- 

 sion. Swellings of the 

 subcutaneous tissue 

 above clavicles, over pec- 

 toralis muscles, in the 

 lower part of the abdo- 

 men and on mons veneris. 

 Skin cool, dry, marbled. 

 Temperament sluggish, 

 Il- 



article on Infantilism. 

 Am. J. M. Sc., 1914, 

 CXLVIII, 251. 



