id that formal marriage is almost unknown among them. The
women in some instances are employed in the village of Ribas as nurses
for children, and as such are found tender and faithful. Before
communication throughout the region was as easy as it is now, it was
thought lucky to have one of these dwarfs in a family, and the dwarfs
were hired out and even sold to be used in beggary in neighboring
cities. There are somewhat similar dwarfs in other valleys of the
Pyrenees, but the number is decreasing, and those of the Ribas Valley
are reduced to a few individuals."

Hiccough is a symptom due to intermittent, sudden contraction of the
diaphragm. Obstinate cases are most peculiar, and sometimes exhaust the
physician's skill. Symes divides these cases into four groups:--

(1) Inflammatory, seen particularly in inflammatory diseases of the
viscera or abdominal membranes, and in severe cases of typhoid fever.

(2) Irritative, as in direct stimulus of the diaphragm in swallowing
some very hot substance; local disease of the esophagus near the
diaphragm, and in many conditions of gastric and intestinal disorder,
more particularly those associated with flatus.

(3) Specific or idiopathic, in which there are no evident causes
present; it is sometimes seen in cases of nephritis and diabetes.

(4) Neurotic, in which the primary cause is in the nervous
system,--hysteria, epilepsy, shock, or cerebral tumors.

The obstinacy of continued hiccough has long been discussed. Osler
calls to mind that in Plato's "Symposium" the physician, Eryximachus,
recommended to Aristophanes, who had hiccough from eating too much,
either to hold his breath or to gargle with a little water; but if it
still continued, "tickle your nose with something and sneeze, and if
you sneeze once or twice even the most violent hiccough is sure to go."
The attack must have been a severe one, as it is stated subsequently
that the hiccough did not disappear until Aristophanes had excited the
sneezing.

Among the older medical writers Weber speaks of singultus lasting for
five days; Tulpius, for twelve days; Eller and Schenck, for three
months; Taranget, for eight months; and Bartholinus, for four years.

At the present day it is not uncommon to read in the newspapers
accounts of prolonged hiccoughing. These cases are not mythical, and
are paralleled by a number of instances in reliable medical literature.
The cause is not always discernible, and cases sometimes r