Craniectomy for idiocy with notes of a case / by T. Telford-Smith.

  • Telford-Smith, Telford.
Date:
[1897]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Craniectomy for idiocy with notes of a case / by T. Telford-Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    Craniectomy for Idiocy, with Notes of a Case. By T. TELFORD-SMITH, M.A., M.D., Medical Superintendent, Royal Albert Asylum, Lancaster. The boy R. H., of whose case I here give some brief notes, has recently (17th March, 1897) been admitted to the Royal Albert Asylum, and so has not yet received any special or systematic training; but, as it is now approaching two years since he under- went surgical treatment in the form of linear craniectomy for his mental defect, it seems worth while to record any changes in his mental and physical condition which have taken place since the operation, as we can thus, to some extent, arrive at an estimate of the degree of improvement more or less directly due to the sur- gical procedure. The boy has, however, both before and since the operation, had attentive care and ordinary home training under his parents' supervision. I may here mention that the fact of the boy's being operated on came about through the parents having read a tale in The Strand Magazine called Creating a Mind *—a tale which I fear has given rise to exaggerated hopes in the minds of the parents of many idiot children. The boy R. H. was born 31st May, 1889, and is the second-born child. The first-born child is still living, and is normal in physical and mental condition. The parents are healthy; the father's present age is 45, the mother's 42. The mother is not robust, and is inclined to be emotional; she had been a schoolmistress before marriage. The father is a strong, active man. In mental capacity the father and mother are above the average, and both parents have been teetotalers for life. R. H. was born at full time ; his parents say that he was hurt at birth with the instruments, but, from what I can gather from the father, they rather assign this cause in the absence of any other more tangible one. The boy was delivered with instruments, but the labour had been a protracted one, and the patient was asphyxiated when born, so that probably there was some injury to the brain tissue, during labour, owing to venous congestion and effusion, with, perhaps, a small amount of meningeal haemorrhage, as a result of the prolonged pressure in the genital canal—a condition which the timely use of the forceps often re- lieves or prevents, but which, unfortunately, is frequently attri- buted, afterwards, to instrumental delivery. * Storiea from the Diary of a Doctor. By L. T. Meade and Clifford uaiifax, M.D. The Strand Magazine, January, 1895.