. The practice of pediatrics. alarge majority of the unclassifiedcases. Syphilis, consanguineous mar-riages, and alcoholism are looked uponas etiologic factors by many authors. PThe mental improvement varies with-in wide limits, and the cases rangefrom those of complete idiocy to thosein which it is impossible to determinewhether the patient is within or with-out the group which is looked uponas normal. Mental impairment isoften associated with spastic paraly-sis; the majority of the unclassifiedcases show such association. Never-theless, in the examination of hundreds of cases in institutions
. The practice of pediatrics. alarge majority of the unclassifiedcases. Syphilis, consanguineous mar-riages, and alcoholism are looked uponas etiologic factors by many authors. PThe mental improvement varies with-in wide limits, and the cases rangefrom those of complete idiocy to thosein which it is impossible to determinewhether the patient is within or with-out the group which is looked uponas normal. Mental impairment isoften associated with spastic paraly-sis; the majority of the unclassifiedcases show such association. Never-theless, in the examination of hundreds of cases in institutions, many defec-tives will be found in whom there is no evidence of muscle defective children are described as backward, feeble-minded, children of retarded development, imbeciles, and idiots. Ina legal sense all are imbeciles who cannot appreciate right and show complete absence of responsibility. Defective sight and hearing may place a child, naturally not mentallykeen, in the defective Fig. 64.—Mongolian idiocy. MONGOLIAN IDIOCY The Mongolian type (Figs. 64, 65, and 66) is found only in theCaucasian race, and received its designation because of the facial resem-blance to the Mongolian. Etiology.—Mongolianism is of congenital origin. There is no knowncause. The majority of the subjects are the offspring of parents oneor both of whom are in middle life or past that period. MONGOLIAN IDIOCY 487 Pathology.—Besides the Mongolian type of face, the microcephalicskull and the retarded bone growth are characteristic of the idiots at autopsy show the evidence of faulty developmentof the brain cortex. The entire brain is smaller and lighter in weightthan is normal, and fissuration is defective. Congenital cardiac mal-formation is not infrequent in these cases, a patent ductus arteriosusor an incomplete ventricular septum being the commonest lesionsfound. Other visceral malformations occur less frequently, but stigmataof deg
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookid39002, booksubjectchildren
