Degeneracy Part 15

Arrest of the lower jaw (Fig. 95) is common among degenerates. This consists of a shortening of the body of the jaw. Sometimes it is arrested to such an extent that there is apparently no chin. About 50 per cent. of criminals of Elmira, New York, have this deformity. The following table shows the number of deformities of the jaws and teeth which I have found among some of the degenerate cla.s.ses.

-----------+------------------------------------------------------------ JAWS. Number examined.

+------------------------------------------------------- V-shaped.

+--------------------------------------------------- Partial V.

+---------------------------------------------- Semi-V.

+------------------------------------------ Saddle.

+-------------------------------------- Partial Saddle.

+--------------------------------- Semi-Saddle.

+----------------------------- Normal.

+------------------------ Arrested Development.

+-------------------- Excessive Development.

----------- +---------------- TEETH. Irregular.

+------------ Tubercles of teeth.

Present.

+--------- Tubercles of teeth.

Absent.

+---- Reg- ular.

-----------+----+---+----+---+---+----+---+----+---+---+---+--+----+--- Criminals at Pontiac, Ill. 465 75 71 3 66 63 16 171 ... ... 123 13 452 342 Criminals at Elmira, N. Y. 1041 381 49 1 157 26 ... 422 ... ... 220 26 1015 821 Criminals at Joliet, Ill. 468 13 79 19 59 92 24 163 ... ... ... .. ... ...

Prost.i.tutes at Chicago, Bridewell 30 10 17 7 27 10 10 ... 1 ... ... .. ... ...

Insane at Dunning, Ill. 700 26 47 ... 12 ... ... 486 ... ... ... .. ... ...

Insane at Kankakee, Ill. 613 69 107 29 89 105 61 153 ... ... ... .. ... ...

Idiots, imbeciles 1977 129 236 ... 207 ... ... 1095 ... ... ... .. ... ...

Deaf and Dumb 1935 169 192 ... 203 ... ... 901 ... ... ... .. ... ...

Blind 207 7 9 ... 11 ... ... 105 ... ... ... .. ... ...

Inebriates [219] 514 15 244 03 93 132 77 254 ... ... ... .. ... ...

CHAPTER XIV

DEGENERACY OF THE BODY

As degeneracy checks the natural course of embryonic development it necessarily finds expression in the body as well as in the skull. One most striking condition is that by which development of the bones enclosing the spinal cord is checked. The spinal cord is at first essentially a notochord as in the lowest types of vertebrates. The structures surrounding the cord are not divided into vertebrae. This condition is permanent in the lancelet. Around the notochord is later formed a species of membrane which protects it, called the perichord. This condition is the second stage of development of the cord and is the permanent condition in the lampreys. Later still the cartilaginous vertebrae develop, and then these ossify at the point in the perichord which is to form a vertebra, bows of dense tissue form which unite behind. In front similar bows form to const.i.tute the bodies of the vertebrae. These bows remain ununited in some of the lower fish and at certain stages in the human embryo. As degeneracy checks the union of the bows of the vertebrae, imperfection, and even absence, of the union occur, which is called spina-bifida (Fig. 96).

This condition when complete is rarely compatible with life. In a partial state it is often found among degenerates.[220] The seat of the trouble is frequently covered by an excessive development of hair (hypertrichosis), especially in the small of the back; this, which occurs very frequently in degenerates, resembles the tail which the ancients represented as that of the fauns.[221]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 96.]

As the vertebrae unite irregularly, deviations or bends of the spine occur very frequently among degenerates. These may be of any of the types known to surgeons. In man the spinal column terminates in two bones. One of those (composed of five vertebrae) begins at eighteen years to unite slowly into a single bone called the sacrum. The bones of the sacral vertebrae form processes similar to those which are formed from the vertebrae of the chest region. These serve to cover the nerves of the sacral region. The bone immediately below the sacrum, called the coccyx, is essentially the representative of the tail in man. At a certain stage of human development, as in the tadpole, the tail disappears, the nine vertebrae forming the coccyx unite together and become a very diminutive bone which loses nearly all vertebral characteristics. Sometimes this bone retains its embryonic peculiarities to such an extent that it simulates in some degenerates a rudimentary tail. Of this many instances are on record. A greater degree of this condition has been found to occur, with comparative frequency, amongst the lowest negro races. In this respect these are below the anthropoid apes, where the tail, considered from the tail standpoint, has degenerated as in man for the benefit of the organism as a whole.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 97.]

The ribs and breastbone develop from the processes of the vertebrae. It is probable that every vertebra originally had ribs. Traces of these exist in most vertebrae in the human embryo. In man, as a rule, there are but twelve vertebrae which develop true ribs. In degenerates, as in the gibbon, a thirteenth pair sometimes appears. Normally, the two lowest ribs are, however, very imperfectly developed as compared with the other ten, and one is sometimes absent. The rib develops from the ends of the vertebral bows, which, coming in contact with the muscle plates of their own segment of the body, are by the resulting bulging forced to expand, and later come together through the formation of the breastbone. Checking of these conditions produces various deformities of the chest which have been divided into "funnel-shaped" and "dropper" deformities.[222] Frequently the entire chest wall is arrested early in life (Fig. 97). The relation between the muscle plates and the course of development of the chest is ill.u.s.trated by the fact that an arrest of development of important muscles often coexists with deformities of the chest. The human limbs are developments from the fin-folds as found in fishes and the human embryo.

In one of these the fins are divided into four segments. The upper segment contains one long bone, the humerus (or arm bone), or the femur (or thigh bone). The second segment contains two long bones, the radius and ulna (or arm bones), or the tibia and fibula (or leg bones). The third segment consists of nine small bones, the carpals of the wrist or the tarsals of the ankle. The fourth segment consists of five separate digits. These limbs pa.s.s through three stages in embryonic development as to their position, which may be designated as amphibian, reptilian, and mammalian.

Many of these bones fuse together (carpals and tarsals). The digits have long before the late fish stage been formed of more than one bone. At times this condition persists even after the completion of human embryonic development. Limb anomalies resulting from checks of development causing either excess or arrest of development are far from uncommon among degenerates, but are not so common as anomalies of form and proportion.

Among such anomalies may be mentioned joined limbs (symelia), or the more or less complete absence of limbs (ectromelia), or the absence of a peripheric segment (hemimelia), or the complete or partial absence of a central segment (phocomelia). Among the other important degeneracies of the limbs are supernumerary digits. These Annadale[223] cla.s.sifies as: First, a deficient digit loosely attached to the hand or foot or to another digit. Second, a more or less developed digit free at its extremity and articulating with other bones. Thirdly, a fully developed separate digit. Fourth, a digit united along its whole length with another digit. The first three types have been called polydactylia. The last has been called syndactylia. There is finally a condition in which union between the digits results in the disappearance of some of the fingers and toes (Fig. 98). This condition is called ectrodactylia. Supernumerary digits to the extent of six fingers and six toes are exceedingly common in the families of degenerates. The influence of heredity in this particular has been well demonstrated. The Kelleia family of Malta was one of the earliest reported. The condition may last for five generations,[224] but often disappears on marriage with normal persons outside the community or family. A family of the Arabian Hyabites, named Boldi, confined marriages to their own tribe. They all have twenty-four digits. Children born with a normal number are killed as being the offspring of adultery. The inhabitants of Cycaux, France, till the end of the eighteenth century, had nearly all supernumerary digits either on the hands or feet. Isolated in a mountainous region, they for years intermarried. On communication being opened, they emigrated or married strangers, and s.e.xdigitism vanished.

Maupertius reports the case of a German family whose members had twenty-four digits for many generations.[225] One of them refused to acknowledge a normal child. In one instance in the United States supernumerary digits lasted through five generations. A case reported[226]

some years ago was the following: The first instance of the appearance of the deformity was in a man, born of a degenerate family in 1752, who had six toes on one foot. His son was born with six toes on one foot, but the daughter was normal. This daughter had five children; among them were a son and daughter, each of whom had six fingers on one hand. The granddaughter had eight children, including one son with six toes on one foot. Another son had two daughters, each having six fingers on each hand, and one daughter having twenty-four digits. This last girl had three children; the son was doubly deformed like his mother, while a second son had six fingers on each hand, the toes being normal. One of the two daughters of the fourth generation (with only the hands affected) had eight children, several of whom were normally developed, but the rest were deformed as follows: One daughter had an osseous thickening at the end of the digits, one son had twenty-four digits, another had twelve fingers, the toes being normal in number.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 98.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 99.]

I have elsewhere cited an instance from Kiernan in which unilateral s.e.xdigitism was found in four generations of Norwegian degenerates.

Not unfrequently polydactylia is a.s.sociated with the absence or union or decrease in size of bones of the limbs. It happens that the upper or lower extremities may be increased or diminished disproportionately through the body. This disproportion in size of the fingers and toes is exceedingly frequent. Big digits (macrodactylia, Fig. 99) are comparatively rare, and may only involve a supernumerary bone in the thumb. Short digits (microdactylia) are much more frequent. This state may be const.i.tuted by the absence of one bone or the union of two bones, or the shortening of metacarpal or metatarsal bones, or the shortness of several phalangeal bones. There may be increased disproportion between the different fingers. The method of determining this is by comparison with the middle finger. This disproportion may vary greatly. Fere is of opinion that shortening of all the fingers const.i.tutes a grave mark of degeneracy.

Relative shortness is exceedingly common.

Under the conditions of development of the limbs from the fin-fold, it follows that these may be checked completely so that the condition approximates the earlier development from the fish. On the other hand the large bones of the arm and thigh may be checked while the digits and the two lower bones (radius and ulna, tibia and fibula) go on to full development as do the digits. Sometimes the arms develop completely while the lower extremity remains in the fin-fold state. On the other hand the arms may be checked and remain in the fin-fold state while the legs go on to full development. Sometimes the bones of the arm and forearm are checked while the digits go on to full development. The lower extremities are sometimes fused together. This condition, from its resemblance to the like state in the seal, is called phocomelia, or seal limbs. They are also called sirens, on account of the resemblance to the sirens of mythology.[227]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 100.]

Other expressions of degeneracy, albeit sometimes secondary, are club-foot and club-hands (Fig. 100). In many instances these are retentions of positions a.s.sumed by the limbs of the foetus in the course of evolution, and are therefore, in the adult, expressions of degeneracy. Club-foot was an expression of degeneracy which appeared in Byron, the poet, as a consequence of the degeneracy present in both the Byrons and the Gordons, as Kiernan has shown.[228] Commenting on this condition as found in Byron, F. S. Coolidge, of Chicago, remarks: "Byron undoubtedly suffered from double congenital club-foot, the deformity being worse on the right."

While in Coolidge's opinion congenital club-foot unquestionably arises from different causes, it is, however, so frequently an accompaniment of severe forms of mal-development and of congenital brain defects, that there can be no doubt but that imperfect const.i.tutional development is one of its causes. That the deformity with the many limitations which it involves may tend to create morbidness is very likely to be an additional symptom of the degeneracy which, in certain cases, is the underlying cause for the deformity. Dareste, who has studied the club-foot and the club-hand from the standpoint of experimental teratology, finds that in no small number of cases club-foot and club-hand result from checked development. Absence of the kneecap or patella may, as H. N. Moyer has shown, be an expression of degeneracy.[229]

The conditions resultant on checked development may appear in any of the bony or muscular structures. At times muscles checked in development pa.s.s on to conditions present in the lower apes.[230] Sometimes the checked development of bones results in artery courses which are present in some of the lower animals. Just above the bend of the elbow in the embryo is an opening through which an artery pa.s.ses in many quadrupeds. In adult man, as a rule, this has disappeared, but not rarely in degenerates the opening persists with the artery through it.

Hernias, of all varieties, are noticeably hereditary,[231] but what is hereditary is not the rupture, but the laxity of the orifice of the cavity of the abdomen. As descent of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es from the abdomen (where they are embryonically in man and normally in many animals) is often delayed and even does not occur in degenerates, hernia of the groin variety is particularly apt to occur in them. These hernias are often found united with defects of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es as well as deficiencies of the chest.

Deformities of the nose are also especially apt to coexist with these.

Degenerate women frequently have supernumerary milk glands arranged on the abdomen as in some lemurs, while males may have supernumerary b.r.e.a.s.t.s of either male or female type. These b.r.e.a.s.t.s may be represented by nipples alone. In either s.e.x arrested development of the face, middle ear, and palate often coexists with these supernumerary b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

The degeneracies of the body combine so frequently with those of the skull and the brain as to indicate a common origin. Polydactylia is found with almost all the degeneracies of the body. It occurs with all the degeneracies of the eye, from those which are purely atavistic like coloboma to those like retinitis pigmentosa and amauroses, which are atavistic in origin. Hare-lip, cleft palate, and deformities of the jaws and teeth are often found a.s.sociated with all the bodily degeneracies and the nutritive, intellectual, and moral degeneracies as well. Phocomelia with brain deformity has been found a.s.sociated with them. Anomalies of the genital organs are also quite frequently a.s.sociated with these and with finger anomalies. In the subjects of juvenile obesity are frequently a.s.sociated unstable mentality and will-power, and delayed or precocious s.e.xual maturity. My own observations have shown this condition to be frequently a.s.sociated with the jaw and teeth degeneracies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 101.]

Aside from their general significance as stigmata of degeneracy, anomalies of the external ear have been found frequently a.s.sociated with mal-development of lungs, kidneys, liver, and intestines. Hidden spina-bifida is often a.s.sociated with the same anomalies, and not rarely with irregular development of the genital organs of both s.e.xes. Albinism or deficient pigment in the skin and hair is not only often a.s.sociated with grave degeneracies, intellectual and moral, but appears combined with mal-development of the spleen, liver, and kidneys. The opposite state (melanoderma, or black skin) is often a.s.sociated with similar deformities, especially with early precocity in development. It has also been found in connection with hairlessness and irregularities in development of the teeth and jaws.

The deformities of the chest and their resulting interferences with respiration are not only a.s.sociated with conditions like narrowing of the pulmonary artery, of the aorta, and with cardiac deformities, but also lead to diminution of the respiratory power and, in consequence, to conditions predisposing to pneumonia and consumption. They are also, as my own observation has shown, a.s.sociated with deformities of the face, of the nose, of the mouth cavity, of the palate, and of the jaws. These conditions result in mouth breathing and in other conditions which predispose to the attacks of microbes. The deformities of the arterial system coexisting with checked development of the chest are apt to extend to the blood vessels of the kidneys, and therefore to retain these in the embryonic condition, thus predisposing them to disease. To a somewhat lesser degree this arterial condition coexisting with checked development of the chest or with the other arrested conditions of development a.s.sociated with it, may extend to the liver in such a degree as to prevent it destroying the toxins of typhoid fever and allied diseases, thereby increasing the dangers from these disorders. The same influence may be exerted on the spleen and suprarenal capsules, thus interfering with the physiologic guards these organs furnish against disease and its results.

Not infrequently do these last conditions tend to give an epileptic character to degeneracies which would otherwise be dest.i.tute of it. With the interference with the proper blood supply, due to checked conditions of the organs named, may occur gout, diabetes, and many forms of rheumatism with their secondary consequences.

The imperfect and irregular action of the lungs a.s.sociated with the arrests in development of the face, nose, palate, jaws, and chest may produce an irregular blood supply to the brain, which will exaggerate the mental instability of the degenerate.

Among the conditions which are expressions of degeneracy of the body, combined with degeneracy of the head and face, are three conditions known as infantilism, masculinism, and feminism. Practically all three are arrests of development of the promise of the child type. Owing to the struggle for existence which occurs at p.u.b.erty between the old type of the chondrocranium and its new type as supplemented by the dermal bones, the nervous system takes a distorted ply which arrests both the bodily, nervous, and mental development at certain points. In infantilism the arrest is of the future promise of the child, so that the body and face remain at the childish point, or the body and nervous system are checked, or finally the nervous system or certain organs alone are checked while the body goes on to full development. Not infrequently the face is arrested at any period from birth to p.u.b.erty (Fig. 101). Hence the reason many persons retain their youthful appearance throughout life. These people are often vain and egotistic. The mental stamina is weak, and they are frequently unreliable, while the females are often prost.i.tutes or prurient prudes, hysteric reformers or gossip mongers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 102.]