Cretins and cretinism : a prize thesis of the University of Edinburgh / by George S. Blackie.
- George Stodart Blackie
- Date:
- 1855
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Cretins and cretinism : a prize thesis of the University of Edinburgh / by George S. Blackie. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![this small island no fewer than 40among 750 inhabitantswere found. In the vicinity of the Lake of Laach, near Bonn, there are many in all stages ; and in one of the villages of that dis- trict, in 300 inhabitants there are 22 Cretins and Idiots.—In the Grand Duchy of Baden, the report of the Sanitary Com- mission of 1.847, mentioned the occurrence of 490 Cretins, chiefly in the Black Forest and the Odenvpald. As regards Sardinia, the royal reports on Cretinism give the follovring results. The population of the country is 4,125,740, of whom about the half live in the hilly district where Cretin- ism is endemic. Here we have 7084 Cretins, besides many half Cretins, of whom 3500 are in Savoy, 1400 in Mau- rienne, and 2180 in the Valley of Aosta. But Dr. Guggen- biihl considers that this report is not complete, that many of the districts were not completely searched; and he agrees with Dr. D'Espire of Geneva in calculating the number at 10,000 and upwards. In Bavaria, according to Professor Virchow, in Lower Franconia, in half a million of inhabitants, there are at least 200 Cretins. In the highlands of Bava- ria the disease is still more common, though not statistically reported. In Austria the disease is very abundant. Accor- ding to Dr. Schausberger, along the banks of the Danube in Upper Austria, the disease is so universal that whole fami- lies consist only of Cretins and half Cretins; and to such an extent, that in villages of from four to five thousand in- habitants, not one man was found capable of bearing arms. On examination, 6000 Cretins of the worst kind were found in Steiermark. According to Professor Langers, in the different provinces of Austria the number of Cretins stands thus:— In Judenburg 1 in 53 inhabitants. — Bruck 1 in 74 — Gratz 1 in 150 — Marburg 1 in 374 — Cilly ] in 516 In Wurtemberg it is calculated there are about 5000 af- fected with the disease. In Denmark, too, a considerable number of Cretins exist among the 2000 idiots of the pojju-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21478132_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
