The sun., 1903-12-27
DWARFS AND DWARFS.
Two Distinct Glasses: Pathological Dwarf
and Descendants OF Pygmies.
From the Courier des Etats Unis.


Legends are useful because sometimes they
put US on the track of authentic facts. In the
Homeric period reference was made to the
| race of pygmies. and yet nobody believed in
their existence. 1t was only in compare
lively modern times that ignorance had to
yield to evidence when races of pygmies were
found in Africa and in Asia. In Europe
popular myths gave an important role to
dwarfs and pygmies in England. Scotland
! and Ireland. In Denmark they were called
Kobold in Germany, Niebelung; and they
were referred to in Russia and even in France
as if the legends reflected the distant recol-
lection OF populations Of little people who
really lived in far-off ages. 1t is now proved
conclusively that the ancient popular belief
was founded IN fact. 1t links the tradition
to its starting point. The race of little people
existed almost everywhere.
Numerous skeletons Of dwarfs are found
in Egyptian necropoli. in Greek and Roman
statuary. in the frescoes Of Pompe and in
some ornamental ceramic vases OF Roman
Gaul Numerous skeletons of pygmies.
| mingled with those OF men Of ordinary stat
ure, have been found in number of pre-
, historic sepulchres. We should also mention
the skeletons of pygmies found in the sepul-
chres of the neolithic period at the time Of
the excavations in Switzerland under the
direction Of Miesch and Komann. Then
came the discoveries of NJ. Manourbrer and
of Vacher de Lapouge in Herault. and in the
cases OF the Cevennes, and more recently
those of NJ. Thiemus in Siberia
1t is certain that there existed in remote
ages a race Of dwarfs which remained as q
distinct race for a long time. Traces of them
are found among the Romans and the Slavs.
According to Gulturam of Comar. these
races Of dwarfs peopled Switzerland and the
whole Of lower Alsace. while Mesch and
Kolmann claim that they were the primitive
people of Europe. The assertion is also made
that inasmuch as traces of pygmies are found
in many parts of the world. they proba bly,
were the advance guard of the present va
riety of the human race. Just as in the case
of animals the big came from the little
1t was toward the close of the ninth century
that all trace of them as a collectivity was
lost Nevertheless. after that period isolated
time, particularly in the different courts Of
Europe where they were employed as iestorc.
the TINE b hefs s nTe
dwarfs Dwarfism, or the diminuton more
or less rema1kable Of the oordnasry stature.
logical dwarf That type has an ensemble
Of clinical signs EvinG nSda him Place b set apart
Of Lyon and NJ Rene Leriche in very in
teresting communication to the Academy
Fl ms and bs%s Of long have eejSss
the psathoIosical dwaris there have not often
eatssory oe"n OF dWas that should be
from them. because they belong to nothing
in and because in reo,tE they are
race of dwarfs These isolated specimens
come down from prehistoric times. They
Ptb" Pnfribute ar and eonseauenly Reredinry. S Whiie
the only dwarfs considred In medical litera-
snS @bnss IN E
their ina ptness for reproduction.
From this category NJ. Poneet and
Mhcs TsAd IS f By hs sesa1 ao
dsappsarsa + our regions about paSss tSs mddls M
observations, They made a study Of two
villa ee on the banks Of tbe. river Ain, They
are both ns specimens Of pyFmes Fnn, Their
stature, each standing 4 feet, o. They
we're intelligent. strong and muscular; Their
nna m@hnr n hssh Is ar
summers. sunni i sli shtiy above the average female
ss .on shs years ed a nsenns nsfs ns
is normal He has the head and body Of the
so" him IniSe aSsns e. mb
hands are small, and his muscles are power
sister is 2s wears old. very intelligent and
perfectly satisfied with her small stature
Her head is normal, bur her limbs. especially
the lower limbs. are short. She weighs "a
mounds and has no organic defect
NJ Poncet and NJ. I.eriche claim that these
two specmens are genuine dwarfs, that is
TO saw, dwarfs by heredity. and not pathology
cal dwarfs The specimens described above
adhere admirably in their anatomical CON
stitution 10 the descriptions of the pvgmies
of old Their, health is excellent and their
physical development perfect All idea of
morbid pathogcny must he rejected: they
must he treated as special variety of the
human species or at least as n marked varia-
tion Of the human type
II these dwarfs are rartics. IL is probably
because there Is n constant advancement of
the human race toward higher type with
the progressive elevation of the stature
Little by little the dwarf type fades away:
and. no doubt. II will finally disappear
completely
their physical characters. by the heredity OF
their low stature and by the reproduction OF
the dwarf through several generations it
appears proba BILE that the two cases studied
BY NJ Poncet and NJ Leriohe have an an
cestral origin and present the living evidence
Of race of pyRmies that formerly existed on
French soil that is to say, that some dwarfs
living to-day may actually be the descendants
Of the pygmies Of old