The Idiot; a novel in four parts

Excerpt: ...improvement was noticed in each case. The clinical history of these cases is given with minute detail by Dr. Telford-Smith, and is well worthy of close study by those interested in this subject. 47 Quite recently, at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association, held at Carlisle in August of the present year, communications were read on the Thyroid Treatment of Cretinism and Imbecility, by Dr. Rushton Parker, Dr. Telford-Smith, Dr. John Thomson, and others. An animated discussion ensued, the tendency of which pointed to the undoubted advantages both physically and mentally of the use of this remedy. Although the physiological effects of thyroid feeding may not be definitely 100 recognised and understood, there is overwhelming evidence to show that it produces marked psychical results, that it acts as a direct cerebral stimulant, and we have every reason to rely upon it as a valuable adjuvant to our treatment of idiocy; and it is not too much to say that the treatment of this infirmity, as well as of other mental defects, by thyroid extract or some other preparation of the thyroid gland, is one of the greatest triumphs of modern medicine; but much still remains to be learnt, as Professor Victor Horsley remarks, "So definite and pronounced is the cachexia thyroidectomica, that few subjects in the range of pathology offer a more fruitful and inviting field of research." 48 101 Craniectomy.-The operation of Craniectomy (that is the cutting of strips of bone from the cranium) has been recommended and practised in cases of microcephalic idiocy, an operation suggested upon the theory of premature synostosis, or closure of the cranial sutures, thus causing an arrest in the development of the subjacent cerebral tissue. Although I could not omit a reference to this operation, it has not met with general acceptance, and one of the most recent writers on this subject, M. Bourneville, physician at Bicêtre, discourages it altogether; and from...