en myxedema, endemic cretinism, sporadic cretinism, or
myxedematous idiocy, and infantilism. He considers that they are all
dependent upon an inherited or acquired deficiency or disease of the
thyroid gland, and he presents cases illustrating each affection.
Figure 285 shows a case of myxedema, one of myxedema in a case of
arrested development--a transition case between myxedema of the adult
and sporadic cretinism--and a typical case of sporadic cretinism.

Cagots are an outcast race or clan of dwarfs in the region of the
Pyrenees, and formerly in Brittany, whose existence has been a
scientific problem since the sixteenth century, at which period they
were known as Cagots, Gahets, Gafets, Agotacs, in France; Agotes or
Gafos, in Spain; and Cacous, in Lower Brittany. Cagot meant the dog of
a Goth; they were of supposed Gothic origin by some, and of Tartar
origin by others. These people were formerly supposed to have been the
descendants of lepers, or to have been the victims of leprosy
themselves. From the descriptions there is a decided difference between
the Cagots and the cretins. In a recent issue of Cosmos a writer
describes Cagots as follows:--

"They inhabit the valley of the Ribas in the northwestern part of the
Spanish province now called Gerona. They never exceed 51 1/2 inches in
height, and have short, ill-formed legs, great bellies, small eyes,
flat noses, and pale, unwholesome complexions. They are usually stupid,
often to the verge of idiocy, and much subject to goiter and scrofulous
affections. The chief town of the Ribas Valley is Ribas, a place of
1500 inhabitants, about 800 feet above sea-level. The mountains rise
about the town to a height of from 6000 to 8000 feet, and command an
amazingly beautiful panorama of mountain, plain, and river, with
Spanish cities visible upon the one side and French upon the other. The
region is rich, both agriculturally and minerally, and is famous for
its medicinal springs. In this paradise dwell the dwarfs, perhaps as
degraded a race of men and women as may be found in any civilized
community. They are almost without education, and inhabit wretched huts
when they have any shelter. The most intelligent are employed as
shepherds, and in summer they live for months at an elevation of more
than 6000 feet without shelter. Here they see no human creature save
some of their own kind, often idiots, who are sent up every fifteen or
twenty days with a supply of food.

"It is sa