THE GLANDS: THYROID AND PITUITARY 53 



! the skull, fail to develop. The abdomen projects and becomes 



j, large and flabby. The sex organs atrophy. There is sterility. 



Pregnant rabbits abort, hens produce very small eggs or none 



at all. These are the results of removing the thyroid in animals. 



Apathetic, indifferent, dirty, awkward, apparently idiotic, 

 describe the human cretins. Their skin is rough and coarse, 

 peeling in sheets. In some it is considerably knarled and creased 

 as in the aged, and in others swollen, hard and resistant. The 

 hair becomes shaggy and rough, losing all luster, and tends to 

 grow irregularly and fall out. The temperature becomes sub- 

 normal and an anemia supervenes. There is a distinct reduction 

 in the resistance to infections and intoxications. 



Cretinism in the human is a condition in which the burning 

 taper we call Life flickers and smoulders and smokes. Thirty 

 years ago it was an example of the most hopeless idiocy. Whole 

 populations were afflicted with it. But neither man of science, 

 nor bigot-fanatic, assured by the Divine Confidence of its mean- 

 ing as a visitation, believed it could be modified an iota. Today, 

 that inept word "cure" may be applied to our power of attack 

 upon it, provided it is permitted to attack early enough. Modifi- 

 cation, in the direction of the most surprising betterment, is the 

 miracle that has been wrought. 



The history of a cretin runs somewhat as follows: A baby is 

 born, which in all appearances seems normal. Perhaps the nose 

 is a trifle squatter than even the average new-born's flat nose. 

 There may also be abnormal sleepiness, greater even than that 

 of the normal baby in the first month or two in that there is 

 no spontaneous awakening from the coma for food. But in most 

 cases this is put down to normal variability, or maybe to that 

 limbo of all a baby's troubles: weakness. After some months, it 

 is noticed that the infant is failing to grow at the normal rate, 

 either physically or mentally. Examination at this time reveals 

 a curious thickening of the dental ridges. Then the tongue takes 

 the centre of the scene, by becoming unusually thick and promi- 

 nent, to the point of projecting beyond the mouth at all times, 

 and interfering with breathing, when the infant is in a recumbent 

 position. 



More and more of the characteristics of the affection turn up. 

 The queer, repulsive, pitiful face of the cretins, which makes them 

 all seem brothers or twins, shapes itself. A yellowish, white or 

 waxy pallor; rough, dry, scaly, bloated skin; swollen, often 

 wrinkled brow; watery eyes, often almost concealed by the thick- 



