112 
Dr. Reeve's Account of Cretinism. 
an “ Essai sur le Goitre et Cretinisme par M. Fodere,” published 
at Paris in 1800. 
My curiosity led me some time ago to inquire more parti- 
cularly into the nature and causes of cretinism, because it is 
usually connected with goitre, or bronchocele ; I was indeed 
led to this inquiry, partly by the hope of discovering some 
function for the thyroid gland, more satisfactory than what is 
commonly alledged ; but in these expectations I have been 
disappointed. 
In the summer of 1805 , 1 had an opportunity of seeing se- 
veral cretins at Martigny and Sion, and other villages in the 
Valais; and I was glad to compare what had been written 
upon that subject, with what my own observation could sug- 
gest. By inquiries on the spot, I intended to learn what con- 
nection subsisted between weakness of the intellectual faculties 
and the swelling of the thyroid gland : what were the moral 
and physical circumstances which could influence the condition 
of the inhabitants, so as to make idiocy so prevalent ; and 
what were the most efficient modes of relief. The following 
results I beg leave to lay before the Royal Society. 
Cretinism is found not only in the vallies of the Alps, both 
on the French and Italian side of these mountains, but in the 
mountainous parts of Germany and Spain ; and it was observed 
in Chinese Tartary by Sir George Staunton, in a part of 
that country much resembling Switzerland and Savoy in its 
alpine appearance. The enlargement of the thyroid gland 
called goitre, is the most striking feature in the unsightly 
aspect of a cretin ; but this is not a constant attendant. His 
head also is deformed, his stature diminutive, his complexion 
sickly, his countenance vacant and destitute of meaning, his 
