DEFECTS IN DEVELOPMENT. 139 



general organic feebleness ; but the former condition 

 may be rectified, and not lead to atrophy ; in a 

 former paper (British Medical Journal, October 30, 

 1880) I showed that small-headed children may, 

 under proper care, develop a fairly sized brain. 

 Here the developmental defect is, to some extent, 

 removed. Of the eleven cases of heart-defect only 

 one appears to have had convulsions a symptom 

 constantly inquired for. This case (No. 7) was 

 cyanotic ; there were, however, six cases of cyanosis 

 without any history of convulsions. 



It will probably be admitted that in the structure 

 and general anatomy of the human body "the 

 normal " is but the average as it is found ; and so 

 difficult is it in all the organized world to define 

 and distinguish accurately between " the variation 

 and the monster," either in the seedling plant which 

 is different from its ancestors, or in the " genius " in 

 the human species, that we must look carefully 

 before we say that any specimen is monstrous or 

 diseased ; but in the gross cases above narrated the 

 abnormality is obvious. Possibly, in these co- 

 existing defects of development we may see some 

 explanation of the accompaniment of vulgar faces 

 and low minds, i.e. low development of the brain ; 

 when such samples are seen in a family it may be 

 well to look for the lines of causation in the de- 

 scending scale of the development of the family. 

 Among common defects may be enumerated de- 

 fective or excessive ossification of the skull, excess 

 of the epicanthic fold, defects of the eyeball, 

 webbing of fingers and toes, nsevus, etc. 



