the name applied to those persons in the valleys of the Alps who are affected by congenital idiocy. They almost all exhibit the goitre, a singular enlargement of the thyroid gland, though all goitrous persons are not Cretins. Cretinism is the term used to denote the state of a Cretin. (See Saussure's Voyages dans les Alpes, ii.)

The following account of these unfortunate beings is taken from Pinel's Traité sur l'Aliénation Mentale:—Children who are to become Cretins are generally born with a small goitre or swelling of the throat, about the size of a nut. Those who have not this peculiarity are nevertheless marked by some other characteristics which foretell their degradation and fatuity. They have an inflated timid appearance, especially about the head and hands. They are less sensible than other infants to the impressions of the atmosphere. They suck with difficulty, sleep a great deal, and have always a dull sleepy look. When children of the same age begin to pronounce words, they can only articulate the vowels, and they make no farther progress in speech during the rest of their lives. When other children begin to use their hands in feeding themselves, the young Cretins are incapable of it; and it is often necessary, after they are ten or twelve years of age, to feed them with a spoon like infants. They are equally slow in learning to walk; never cheerful; always cross and sullen; nothing but maternal tenderness could tolerate them. The head of a Cretin does not grow in proportion to the rest of his body; it is commonly small, and flat on the top; the temples are flattened also, with the tuberosity of the occiput projecting in a slight degree. The eyes are small, and sunk in the head, though sometimes on the contrary very protuberant. The look of a Cretin is dull and stupid; the chest broad and flat; the fingers long and slender, with the articulations ill marked; the sole of the foot broad, and sometimes bent, and the feet are generally turned either outwards or inwards. The age of puberty is later among the Cretins; but the organs of generation are large, and they are much disposed to sensual indulgences. It is not till this period that the Cretin begins to walk, and still his locomotion is very limited, only excited by the desire of food, or to bask by the fire-side, or in the rays of the sun. His small sorry bed is another termination of his difficult journeys, his step is unsteady, his body jolts on his legs, and his arms are pendulous by his side. In walking he goes straight forward, without avoiding any obstacles or dangers; and he always takes the route that he has once gone. When he has attained his greatest height of stature, which is from four to five feet, his skin becomes brown; his sensibility continues to be obtuse; he regards neither cold, nor heat, nor vermin, nor blows. He is commonly deaf and dumb, and is scarcely affected by the most pungent odours. The taste of Cretins is also very imperfect; and their organs of vision and of touch are probably impaired. Their moral faculties appear almost obliterated. They are hardly affectionate to their parents and friends, and betray neither pleasure nor pain at all the necessary wants of life. Such (says Fodéré) is the physical and moral state of the Cretins during a long course of years; for, reduced thus to a sort of vegetation and automatic existence, they live to a great old age."