A cretin treated by thyroid extract / by Wm. Rushton Parker.

  • Parker, William Rushton.
Date:
[1896]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A cretin treated by thyroid extract / by Wm. Rushton Parker. 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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    Reprinted ior the Author from the British Medical Journal, February 8th, i8r.6. A CRETIN TREATED BY THYROID EXTRACT. By WM. RUSHTON PARKER, M.A., M.D.Cantab., Honorary Surgeon to the Kendal Hospital. M. E. K. was born on March ist, 1888, her mother—who suffers from hare-lip and cleft palate—having two months previously suffered a great shock from the rapid death of one of her boys from croup. Otherwise there is nothing note- worthy in the family history—no goitre, no consanguinity, and the four grandparents living to a good age. During infancy it was noticed that she differed from other children in being always very still and quiet, in sleeping inordinately, and in never crying. Dp to 65 years of age she remained very stunted in growth, propped up all day on a chair, being unable to sit up or stand, usually very stolid, and sleeping indefinitely, breathing very noisily, and unable to recognise people or to speak. She was always cold, liking to be near the fire. Her actions were very slow, so that she would take a full minute to raise her arm when asked to shake hands. Her bowels were extremely costive, there being usually only two or three very painful motions in a month. On November 24th, 1894, the child was photographed, being held up for the occasion by her elder sister. At that time her face was swollen, so that her eyes were often scarcely visible; her lips were swollen and livid; her tongue was swollen and livid, and commonly protruding ; the teeth were black and stumpy ; the mouth seemed always full of phlegm, and the breath smelt; the bridge of the nose was sunken and the tip flat; the neck was thick, the thyroid gland quite imperceptible; there were soft swellings above the collar- bones and similar masses outside the nipples; the limbs were short and stumpy, the belly was swollen, and an umbilical hernia protruded to the size of a walnut. The hair of the head was not noticeably scanty or coarse. A 5-grain thyroid tabloid was given every weekday in one dose for the succeeding six months, during which time the swelling gradually vanished from the tongue, then from the face, then from the body and limbs, so that in a few months her mother thought she felt quite a stone lighter, although she had grown some inches in height.