Читать книгу The Body at Work: A Treatise on the Principles of Physiology онлайн

77 страница из 88

ssss1

Thyroid Gland.

In the majority of cases the tumour in the neck develops slowly, and does not reach its full dimensions until after middle life. Goitre in this form, although inconvenient, causes no serious discomfort. But when it appears in early life, it is associated with an extraordinary complex of malformations and ill-performed functions. The condition into which a goitrous child sinks is known as cretinism. With the exception of the skull-case, its skeleton does not attain to its proper proportions; and, since the soft parts do not equally submit to arrest of growth, the dwarf is heavy and ungainly, with large jowl and protuberant abdomen. The appearance of distortion is extraordinarily heightened by hypertrophy of the skin and the subcutaneous connective tissue. Ears, eyelids, nose, lips, fingers, are thick and heavy. The hair and nails are coarse. The skin is folded, wrinkled, rough.

The bodily ungainliness of a cretin has its counterpart in the deformity of his mind. He is an idiot whose deficiency is chiefly marked by apathy.