ficiently difficult by official investigators. Great reluctance will be exhibited to disclose the information which should be sought, and the common cry will certainly be raised, that such scrutiny is without general advantage, and is painful to private feelings. But, in matters which affect mankind in general, individual feelings must always be subordinated to the public interest; and if the truth is to be arrived at in regard to crétinism, the protests of the ignorant will have to be overridden.
Hitherto, those who have written upon the disease have confined themselves, almost exclusively, to guessing at its origin; and accurate data, from which sound deductions can be made, are, I believe, entirely wanting.[1] We, however, are not in a position to taunt others with neglect of inquiry. Only a few months ago the House of Commons rejected, by a considerable majority, a proposition that was designed to throw light upon the causes of idiocy; and the opponents of the words which it was sought to introduce, although strictly parliamentary in their arguments and language, afforded a deplorable proof that crétinism is not unknown in our own country.[2]
Crétinism is the least agreeable feature of the valley of Aosta, but it is, at the same time, the most striking. It has been touched upon for the sake of its human interest, and on account of those unhappy beings who—punished by the errors of their fathers—are powerless to help themselves;—the first sight of whom produced such an impression upon the most earnest of all Alpine writers, that he declared, in a twice-repeated expression, its recollection would never be effaced from his memory.[3]
At some very remote period the valley of Aosta was occupied
- ↑ For further information upon crétinism, see the works of Ferrus, Niepce, Fabre, Séguin, Nystrom, Morel, etc.
- ↑ Debate on the Census Bill, on the motion by Sir John Lubbock to insert the words "whether married to a first cousin." The opponents of Sir J. Lubbock's motion should read Chipault Sur les Mariages Consanguines: Paris, 1863.
- ↑ De Saussure, §§ 954, 1030.
