Hare: A Study of Handicapped Children 



15 



characterized by the patient's walking on the heel. Talipes 

 valgus is a deformity where the patient walks on the inward 

 edge of the sole, and it is contrasted with talipes varus where 

 the patient walks on the outer edge of the sole. Talipes cavus 

 or "hollow foot" is a condition where the arch is overdevel- 

 oped. And lastly the non-deforming clubfoot is a condition 

 where there is loss of the dorsal flexion of the foot. 



Case H. E. 2,161. This case is an illustration of congeni- 

 tal clubfoot — a little boy, five years old, who was brought into 

 the hospital and received surgical correction, and afterwards 

 braces. Two other cases of clubfoot in the family — the pa- 

 tient's brother and the father's cousin — seem to indicate that 

 such a congenital condition is apt to occur in the same fam- 

 ily, tho there is no plausible explanation for it. In this par- 

 ticular case there is a tragedy connected with the story. 

 Eventually the patient's little brother was brought into the 

 hospital and had his feet corrected, and both children were 

 sent home in splendid convalescent condition. A year or so 

 later, a letter was received from the father of the children 

 saying the older boy while playing with a gun had accidentally 

 shot and killed the younger brother. The parents were heart- 

 broken, as they had been so delighted with the improvement 

 in the children's feet. 



11. Flat foot. Flat foot is a condition where the arch of 

 the foot is broken down and the sole becomes flattened. 

 Exercises and braces are used in corrective treatment. 



12. Harelip.^ Harelip is due to prenatal arrested devel- 

 opment, and may be single or double. Surgical correction 

 when the patient is about two months old results favorably in 

 most cases, leaving only a slight scar. 



13. Cleft Palate.^ Cleft palate is closely related to hare- 

 lip condition and both often occur simultaneously. Cleft 

 palate is also due to arrested embryonic development — "a defi- 

 ciency in the median line of the roof of the mouth". Here 

 again surgical correction is recommended during the second 

 or third month after birth, tho cases are treated in older 

 children. A neglected cleft palate affects speech very notice- 

 ably and is a marked handicap. Both cleft palates and hare- 

 lips are often found occurring in different members of the 



* McMurrich, The Development of the Human Body, p. 100. 



^Ibid., p. 284 . . 



