On atrophy of the brain in imbeciles / by Fletcher Beach.

  • Fletcher Beach
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On atrophy of the brain in imbeciles / by Fletcher Beach. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tlie body weighed only 7 ounces, yet a minute examination of it showed that nearly all the convolutions were present, tliongh very small in size. In the other, the brain weighed 20.V ounces. Two brains of microcephalic cases have since come under my notice, and these weighed 20j and 24i ounces respectively. The nerves of special sense are nsnally well- developed in microcephaly, and the ganglia of the base and the spinal cord are of nearly normal size. The cerebellum is relatively much larger than in the normal brain, often being in the proportion of 1 to 3 or 4, the ordinary relation being I to 8. The following are illustrative cases : G. L., aged 13 years, admitted into Darenth Asylum, January 19th, 1878. The father is a very hard drinker and often ill-uses the mother. He has an impediment in his speech, and so have all his side of the family. The mother is a temperate ^voman, but has a brother in Colney Hatch Asylum. Intemperance and hereditary predisposition to in- sanity are therefore present. T4ie parents are not connected by consanguinity. G. L. had a small head when born. He did not walk till 5 years old, and has never spoken. The mother ascribes his condition to ill-nsage by the father during pregnancy. He is a twin; the other child is dead, but his head was of normal size. There have been twelve children, of whom one, a girl aged 8 years, is also microcephalic. Seven have died, and of these one was microcephalic and died in convulsions. On admission, G. L. was found to be rather thin, with a mudtly complexion and a bird-like aspect. His head measured 17| inches in circumference (3 to 4 inches below the normal size), lOJ inches transversely (3J inches with calipers), and II inches aiitero-posteriorly ((J inches with calipers). Since his residence in the Asylum his head has increased a little in size, being now I8|- inches in circumference, II inches in the transverse diameter, and 11^ inches in the longitudinal direction ; but even now the outline of it, when compared with one of normal size, shows the great difference at once. His forehead was 3f inches in breadth. He had good use of his limbs and was not snl)jcct to fits. In temper he was some-
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