On the causes of idiocy : being the supplement to a report by Dr. S.G. Howe and the other commissioners appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to inquire into the condition of the idiots of the Commonwealth, dated February 26, 1848 : with an appendix.

  • Massachusetts. Commission on Condition of Idiots of the Commonwealth.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes of idiocy : being the supplement to a report by Dr. S.G. Howe and the other commissioners appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to inquire into the condition of the idiots of the Commonwealth, dated February 26, 1848 : with an appendix. 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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    In saying that such persons are generally scrofulous, the word is used in its popular sense, without any pretension to pathological accuracy. Indeed, it is difficult to give a correct idea of scrofula, because its symptoms are so manifold and so various. The class of persons to whom reference is made may be known by several signs. They do not stand erect and firm ; they seem rather to be trying to hold their head and shoulders up by their muscles than to rest firmly and gracefully poised upon the spinal column and lower extremities. Ked and sore eyelids, turgid lips, spongy gums, swellings in the glands, liability to eruptions and diseases of the skin, mark this class of persons. The skin is generally fair; the muscles flabby; the hair is light,—seldom hard, crispy and strong. They are not liable to fevers and violent inflammations, as others are, but when unwell nature relieves herself by sores, ulcers, eruptions, &c. The peccant humours show themselves upon the surface in various ways ; swellings and ulcerations of the glands, blotches, tetters, ring worms, rash, salt rheum, &c. But it is not the surface alone that is affected ; the internal tissues are often vitiated, and show their morbid tendencies by various affections, of which cancer is the worst. Great pains have been taken to ascertain the physical pecu- liarities of the blood relatives of most of the idiots whose names are upon the list. In reading over the description of more than four hundred families in which idiots are found, one is struck with the great number of cases in which the affections above named are found. A few cases will give a better idea than any general description can do. No. 289. F. D., aged years. This child is a poor, puny, and scrofulous creature. Her head is very small, being only 16 inches in circumference. She is quite idiotic, as might be expected with a head of such dimensions upon a frame so weak and low-toned. She is very feeble in the spine ; her right side is torpid, and right arm seems paralyzed. Her family is very thriftless and dirty, and present the spectacle, so rare in this country, of sharing their room with the pigs and poultry. The father is afflicted with salt rheum and other humours, which seem to affect his whole system, and make him dys- peptic and wretched.
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