Mongolism and cretinism / by Clemens E. Benda.

  • Benda, Clemens E. (Clemens Ernst), 1898-1975.
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Mongolism and cretinism / by Clemens E. Benda. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    HISTORY, FREQUENCY, TERMINOLOGY 5 and misleading. The name mongoloid refers to the mongol-like appearance of these patients. It cannot be denied that a superficial re¬ semblance to the Mongolian race exists in a number of cases, especially at a certain early age. But to term these children Mongolians is incorrect, since a Mongolian is a member of the Mongohan race. Even less appropriate is the term Mongol, for this refers to a limited group of people, the in¬ habitants of Mongolia. The early members of the Medico-Psychological Association in London objected to nick-naming an idiot by calling him a Kalmuc or mongolian because he is no more a Kalmuc than any other human being. Shuttleworth introduced the name of unfinished children, which John Thomson improved upon by changing it to ill-finished. R. Bennett Bean described the mongoloid as a hypomorph white type. Since mongolism has been recognized in Negroes and Indians and is not rare in Chinese and Japanese children, the need for a better scientific ex¬ pression is urgent. Chinese doctors point out that they can distinctly recognize the condition in their population, but are at a loss because the term mongolism is certainly inadequate in describing a Chinese child of that type. When in the course of studying the groAvth disorder of mongolism it be¬ came evident that mongolism represents the opposite condition of acro¬ megaly, I introduced the term congenital acromicria, which луоиЫ per¬ mit a broader application of the term to all races, including the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Negro patients. At that time I was unaware of the fact that this term had been used before by Schüller* and by W. Clift. In 1922, Clift reported roentgenological findings in mongolism. He found the name acromicria appropriate because of the disproportionate de¬ velopmental deficiency of the nose, maxilla, and other bony structures, whose development was in opposition to acromegaly. The simultaneous agreement of three independent investigators regarding the character of the growth deficiency indicates that the name of congenital acromicria is well chosen. The term is not only descriptive in the characterization of the specific growth disorder, but it includes an important clue to the essential path¬ ology. When, in 1886, Pierre Marie discovered the relationship between acromegaly and a dysfunction of the pituitary gland, he freed acromegaly * Arthur Schüller, whose name is well known from the Hand-Schüller-Christian's disease, wrote in an article on Infantilism, with regard to mongolism, in 1907: Die für diesen Typus characteristische Wachstums-anomalie bildet gewissermassen einen Gegensatz zur acromegalen. Die Gesichtsknochen und die Endteile der Ex¬ tremitäten sind nämlich auffallend verkürzt, sodass man von einer Acromicrie spre¬ chen kann. Wien. med. Wchnschr. 57, 629, 1907.