ZOOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF DISEASE. 263 



and a typical specimen of a calf-cretin which came under 

 my observation is sketched in fig. 128. This calf ex- 

 hibits in a striking manner the leading features of the 

 affection. For instance, its trunk 'only measures thirty 

 centimetres in length, and the legs are five centimetres 

 long : the head arrests attention on account of its 

 shortness, resembling strongly the head of a pug-dog. 

 Cretinism is not unknown among dogs ; the museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons possesses an excellent 

 specimen in a foetal puppy. 



The calf-cretin is of interest especially with regard 

 to the undue shortness of the head and limbs, for it 

 has been suggested that the pug-dogs, which are such 

 favourite pets with many ladies, are cretins, and that 

 by selected breeding a race of cretinous dogs has been 

 produced. It has also been suggested that the short- 

 legged spitze or Dachshund is possibly cretinous. This 

 however is problematical ; the spitze must be a very 

 old variety of dog. Dr. Blackmore showed me in the 

 Salisbury museum some arm bones which clearly 

 belonged to a dog, and they were curved, or bowed like 

 the bones of a spitze ; the curves were certainly not due 

 to rickety changes. These bones were obtained among 

 others from excavations made in investigating the pit- 

 dwellings, admirable models of which are exhibited ir 

 the same museum. 



Dr. Parrot has made a careful study of cretinism, 

 and allied diseases of the skeletons, and goes so far as 

 to believe that the ancient Egyptians were acquainted 

 with cretinism, and even had a cretinous god, Ptah, 

 which was particularly venerated at Memphis. An 



