Cretinism seems to be a combination of two diseases, the one physical,
the other mental. The physical disorder is akin to _Rachitis_, or
rickets, while the mental is substantially idiocy. The osseous
structure, deficient in the phosphate of lime, is unable to sustain the
weight of the body, and the cretin is thus incapacitated for active
motion; the muscles are soft and wasted; the skin dingy, cold, and
unhealthy; the appetite voracious; spasmodic and convulsed action
frequent; and the digestion imperfect and greatly disordered. The mind
seems to exist only in a germinal state; observation, memory, thought,
the power of combination, are all wanting. The external senses are so
torpid, that, for months perhaps, it is in vain to address either eye
or ear; nor is the sense of touch much more active. The cretin is
insensible to pain or annoyance, and seems to have as little sensation
as an oyster.
It was to the work of restoring these diseased and enfeebled bodies
to health, and of developing these germs of intellect, that Doctor
Guggenbuehl addressed himself. For this purpose, pure air, enforced
exercise, the use of cold, warm, and vapor baths, of spirituous lotions
and frictions, a simple yet eminently nutritive diet, regular habits,
and the administration of those medicinal alternatives which would
give tone to the system, activity to the absorbents, and vigor to
the muscles, were the remedial measures adopted.
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