870 



AUGUST STKAUCH 



but infantile.' The involution of the lymphatic apparatus is deficient, the 

 genitalia, secondary sexual characteristics and vita sexualis are deficient or 

 undeveloped. The psyche also remains infantile. 



Infantilistic features naturally become more man- 

 ifest, apart from extreme cases, the closer the indi- 

 vidual approaches that period at which the evolution 

 should be completed. Near or at puberty perhaps, for 

 the first time, infantile organs will reveal their func- 

 tional failure clearly; this is especially the case with 

 the genital glands. 



Von Kosthorn, in a classical description of the in- 

 fantile habitus (asthenic form) in woman, enumerates 

 the following morphological attributes : Growth is di- 

 minished, the skeleton is graceful and with the childish 

 proportions, viz., short lower extremities ; the typical 

 curvings of the vertebral column are only slight, the 

 pelvis is hypoplastic, of lessened inclination, and the 

 hips are narrow ; the facial skeleton is underdeveloped, 

 for the chin and the jaws arc hypoplastic and the nose 

 is infantile; the mastoid processes are small. The 

 musculature is poorly developed. The nates are flat, 

 the growth of hairs is scanty, especially on the under- 

 developed mons venoris. The breasts are childish in 

 form with only a little parenchyma and a small areola 

 and the nipples are often flat or retracted as is charac- 

 teristic of the fetal stage. Typical alterations are evi- 

 dent in the genitalia. The external parts are hardly 

 covered by the flesh of the thighs as in normal woman 

 and the internal parts show typical hypoplasias. The 

 funnel-shaped vulva is suggestive of the original uro- 

 genital sinus. With this are associated developmental 

 anomalies of the kidneys, cecum and the lower end of 

 the intestinal tract, not demonstrable clinically. The 

 total picture of the general habitus includes also the 

 infantile heart, the narrowness of the circulatory sys- 

 tem and frequently, during puberty, a disturbance of 

 the correlation of those organs that are responsible for 

 the integrity of the blood tissue. Finally also the 

 psyche is infantile. 



Etiology and Pathogenesis. In the etiology of 

 dystrophic infantilism the most divergent delete- 

 rious agents which call forth a debility of the whole constitution of the 

 organism come into consideration. This form is encountered some- 

 times accompanying the status thymicolymphaticus, valvular diseases, 



Fig. 8. Lorain's 

 type of Infantilism. 

 Boy twelve years, 

 four months old. 

 Height 50'/> inches 

 (.normal for this age 

 55.4 inches ) . Weight 

 42 Ibs. (normal 76.9 

 Ibs. ) Graceful stat- 

 ure, delicate skele- 

 ton. Testicles small, 

 penis 1 Vt inch long. 

 Crines pubis scanty. 

 Psychic deficiency. 

 At present (20 years 

 old ) his height is 4 

 feet, 6'X> inches, his 

 weight 65 Ibs. Au- 

 thor's case, fully de- 

 scribed Am. J. M. 

 Sc., 1. c., CXL1TI. 

 Original illustration 

 Fig. No. 5, page 261. 



