INFANTILISM 869 



nails were strongly curved and ridged longitudinally, and the teeth poorly 

 developed. Blood pressure was 65. The administration of 200 grams of 

 dextrose caused no glycosuria. He showed slight apathy. Upon thyroid 

 therapy disappearance of the myxedema and rise of blood pressure to 

 normal occurred. A year later he still suffered from tetany, hut no 

 myxedematoid symptoms. The secondary sexual characters for the greater 

 part had developed and the sexual life hegun to assert itself. Thus, in 

 addition to typical tetany and epilepsy there existed signs of disturbance 

 of the thyroid, the genitals and perhaps the suprarenals (marked 

 hypotonia) . 



Instances of pluriglandular syndromes with infantilistic features were 

 described by Richon and Jeandelize, by Peritz, Campioni, Nazari, Pende 

 and others. In the case of Nazari there were present infantilism, tuber- 

 culosis of the lungs and meninges, cystic degeneration of the hypophysis, 

 persistence of the thymus gland, hypoplasia of the testicles and the thyroid. 

 The patient of Morlat also had, according to the interpretation of Claude 

 and Gougero, signs of lack of function of the thyroid, the adrenals and 

 testicles. Thompson described a noteworthy case of sclerosis in all duct- 

 less glands occurring in primary infantile atrophy, so that the possibility 

 of the existence of a multiple ductless glandular affection may be con- 

 sidered in a number of instances of pedatrophy. 



Dystrophic Infantilism 



This form was first described in 1871 by Lorain, after whom it is gen- 

 erally named. It differs morphologically and etiologically from the type 

 of Brissaud. The affected individuals are small, but graceful ; they have 

 "elegant, fine" forms; the extremities are long, the abdomen is not prom- 

 inent, the adipose tissue not increased, and the contours of musculature 

 and skeleton are therefore not masked. This is in contradistinction to 

 Brissaud' s hypothyreogenic type. Though the genitals are diminutive, 

 they are about proportionate to the body size. The intelligence is mediocre 

 childish like the body. The type resembles a un homme miniature," 

 and presents, as Meige tersely says, the picture of a normal individual 

 seen through an opera glass reversed. 



As already mentioned, Falta, with others, restricts the term infantilism 

 to this form and defines it as an arrest at the infantile stage of develop- 

 ment, hence presenting the following principal characteristics: deficient 

 growth ; retarded ossification, namely delayed ' appearance of the bone 

 nuclei and late closure of the epiphysial junctures; retention of childish 

 dimensions of the body, either wholly or in part. That is, the "lower 

 length" of the body equals the "upper length," or more commonly, slightly 

 exceeds it. The form of the pelvis is neither masculine nor feminine 



