and tissues, the condition of
_hyper_thyroidism.

CRETINISM AS THYROID DEFICIENCY

Not that there is any arresting contrast of startling difference
between the phenomena presented by different species. The younger the
animal, the grosser the morbid symptoms witnessed. The animal fails to
grow. The bones and cartilage, except of the skull, fail to develop.
The abdomen projects and becomes large and flabby. The sex organs
atrophy. There is sterility. Pregnant rabbits abort, hens produce
very small eggs or none at all. These are the results of removing the
thyroid in animals.

Apathetic, indifferent, dirty, awkward, apparently idiotic, describe
the human cretins. Their skin is rough and coarse, peeling in sheets.
In some it is considerably knarled and creased as in the aged, and in
others swollen, hard and resistant. The hair becomes shaggy and rough,
losing all luster, and tends to grow irregularly and fall out. The
temperature becomes subnormal and an anemia supervenes. There is a
distinct reduction in the resistance to infections and intoxications.

Cretinism in the human is a condition in which the burning taper we
call Life flickers and smoulders and smokes. Thirty years ago it
was an example of the most hopeless idiocy. Whole populations were
afflicted with it. But neither man of science, nor bigot-fanatic,
assured by the Divine Confidence of its meaning as a visitation,
believed it could be modified an iota. Today, that inept word "cure"
may be applied to our power of attack upon it, provided it is
permitted to attack early enough. Modification, in the direction of
the most surprising betterment, is the miracle that has been wrought.

The history of a cretin runs somewhat as follows: A baby is born,
which in all appearances seems normal. Perhaps the nose is a trifle
squatter than even the average new-born's flat nose. There may also be
abnormal sleepiness, greater even than that of the normal baby in the
first month or two in that there is no spontaneous awakening from
the coma for food. But in most cases this is put down to normal
variability, or maybe to that limbo of all a baby's troubles:
weakness. After some months, it is noticed that the infant is failing
to grow at the normal rate, either physically or mentally. Examination
at this time reveals a curious thickening of the dental ridges. Then
the tongue takes the centre of the scene, by becoming unusually thick
and prominent, to the point of projecting