PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 279 



the thyroid on the development of thei other systems of the body, particularly 

 on the growth of the skull and skeleton, is equally profound. This is par- 

 ticularly the ca.se as regards the base of the skull and the nose. The ai'rest 

 of growth falls mainly on the basal part of the skull, with the result 

 that the root of the nose appears to be flattened and drawn backwards between 

 the eyes, the upper forehead appears projecting or bulging, the face appears 

 flattened, and the bony scaffolding of the nose, particu'larly when compared 

 to the prominence of the jaws, is greatly reduced. Now, these facial features 

 which I have enumerated give the Mongolian face its characteristic aspect, 

 and, to a lesser degree, they are also to be traced in the features of the Negro. 

 Indeed, in one aberrant branch of the Negro race — the Bushman of South Africa 

 — the thyroid facies is even more emphatically brought out than in the most 

 typical Mongol. You will observe that, in my opinion, the thyroid — or a reduc- 

 tion or alteration in the activity of the thyroid — has been a factor in deter- 

 mining some of the racial characteristics of the Mongol and the Negro races. 

 I know of a telling piece of evidence which supports this thesis. Some years 

 ago there died in the East End of London a Chinese giant— the subject, we 

 must suppose, of an excessive action of the pituitary gland — the gland which 

 I regard as playing a predominant part in shaping the face and bodily form 

 of the European. The skeleton of this giant was pTiepared and placed in the 

 Museum of the London Hospital Medical College by Col. T. H. Openshaw, 

 and any one inspecting that skeleton can see that, although certain Chinese 

 features are still recognisable, the nasal region and the supra-orbital ridges 

 of the face have assumed the more prominent European type. 



There are two peculiar and very definite forms of dwarfism with which most 

 people are familiar, both of which must be regarded as due to a defect in the 

 growth regulating mechanism of the thyroid. Now, one of these forms of 

 dwarfism is known to medical men as Achondroplasia, because the growth of 

 cartilage is particularly affected, but in familiar language we may speak of 

 the sufferers from this disorder of growth as being of the ' bulldog breed ' or of 

 the 'dachshund breed.' In the dachshund the limbs are greatly shortened and 

 gnarled, but the nose or snout suffers no redviction, while in the bulldog the nose 

 and nasal part of the face are greatly reduced and withdrawn, showing an exagge- 

 rated degree of Mongolism. Among achondroplastic human dwarfs both breeds 

 occur, but the ' bulldog ' form is much more common than the ' dachshund ' 

 type. The shortening of limbs with retraction of the nasal 7'egion of the face — 

 pug-face or prosopia we may call the condition — has a very direct interest for 

 anthropologists, seeing that short limbs and a long trunk are well-recognised 

 racial characteristics of the Mongol. In the second kind of dwarfism, which we 

 have reason to regard as due to a functional defect of the thyroid, the Mon- 

 golian traits are so apparent that the sufferers from this disorder are known to 

 medical men as ' Mongolian idiots ' — for not only is their growth stunted, but 

 their brains also act in a peculiar and aberrant manner. Dr. Langdon Down, 

 who gave the subjects of this peculiar disorder the name ' Mongolian idiots ' 

 fifty-five years ago, knew nothing of the modern doctrine of internal secretions. 

 but that doctrine has been applied in recent years by Dr. F. G. Crookshank ■• to 

 explain the features and condition of Mongoloid imbecile children. Some 

 years ago = I brought forward evidence to show that we could best explain the 

 various forms of anthropoid apes by applying the modern doctrine of a growth- 

 controlling glandular mechanism. In the gorilla we see the effects of a pre- 

 dominance of the pituitary elements; in the orang, of the thyroid. The late 

 Professor Klaatsch tried to account for the superficial resemblances between 

 the Malav and the orang by postulating a genetic relationship between them ; 

 for a similar reason he derived the Negro type from a gorilline ancestry. Occa- 

 sionally v.-e see a man or woman of supposedly pure European ancestry displaying 

 definite Mongoloid traits in their features. We have been in the habit of account- 

 ing for such manifestations by the theory, at one time very popular, that a Mon- 

 goloid race had at one time spread over Europe, and that ]\rongoloid_ traits were 

 atavistic recurrences. An examination of the human remains of ancient Europe 

 yields no evidence in support of a Turanian or Mongol invasion of Europe. 



* The Universal McfJicnl Rprnrrf. 1913, vol. iii., p. 12. 



* Journ. of Anat. and Physiol., 1913. 



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