INFANTILISM 



873 



patulous foramen ovale, had also a narrow aorta, tabulated kidneys, long 

 narrow urinary bladder and ovaries, considerable residues of the thymus 

 and infantile genitalia and pelvis. Congenital vitium with narrowness 

 of the aortic system may be not only a cause but also perhaps in many 

 instances a coordinated manifestation of infantilism. That general hypo- 

 trophy of the body is by no means a constant complication of vitium 

 cordis, be it congenital or early acquired, 

 is a common observation. Weber, among 

 his numerous cases of vitia cordis in 

 childhood, could trace a general hy- 

 potrophy to cardiac anomalies in only 

 eight instances. 



Infantilism Resulting from Chronic 

 Intoxications and Infections. Impor- 

 tant factors under certain circumstances 

 leading to defective development of the 

 whole organism are the various intoxi- 

 cations and infections enumerated in a 

 foregoing chapter. The infectious dis- 

 eases may exert their influence either by 

 devitalizing and debilitating the germ- 

 inative organs and the germ cells of the 

 progenitors or by affecting the offspring 

 itself during the intra-uterine or post- 

 natal life, so that the growth energy is 

 impaired. In two of my cases of atro- 

 phic infantilism the mothers had suf- 

 fered during gestation from severe 

 febrile rheumatic polyarthritis, a con- 

 dition that is suggestive as having a 

 bearing upon the general dystrophy of 

 the new-born. 



Children suffering from severe tu- 

 berculosis of long standing in any part 

 of the body frequently show retarded or 

 arrested development, and spinal caries 



is comparatively a common cause of this retardation (Infantilisme pottique 

 of Marie et Levi, Debove, Claude et Lejonne). Typhoid in early youth 

 caused infantilism in the case of Apert and Rouillard. 



The relation of malarial infection to dystrophic infantilism is evident 

 from the comparative frequency of the latter in malarial districts. Fer- 

 ranni in Cicily and H. de Brun point to the numerous emaciated, dys- 

 trophic subjects of small figures and senile countenances among those 

 who have suffered from malaria in early life. I saw similar conditions 



Fig. 9. Sixteen-year-old person 

 with early acquired vitium cordis; 

 beside a normally developed youth of 

 the same age. Original illustration, 

 Fig. No. 13 in Peritz's article on In- 

 fantilism; Ergebn. d. inn. Med. u. 

 Kinderh., Berl., 1911, VII, page 460. 



