The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-01-31
DISEASE CAUSES
NATURE 5 FREAK
DWARF AND GIANT ARE BOTH
THE RESULT OF THE SAME
AiLMENT.

Among the oddities of nature dwarfs
and giants have always figured as
most interesting. Science. having In
vestigated what curious physical con-
ditions could bring about healthy
white men that measured less than
two feet or over ten feet in height,
speedily discoy cred that dwarfism and
the same disease
The trouble Is caused by diseased
, condition OF the cartilage. which at
each end OF every bone connects said
bone with the rest of the skeleton.
This. cartilage in the newborn child
forms practically all of the skeleton.
and it is not until after birth that the
carthage breaks out into little points
of opaque. osseous matter that dries
out into the real bone
When this has become hardened the
frame Of the body becomes sitter and
stronger aud enables the child to walk
upright Where this bone making pro-
cess is not we'll done the skeleton re
mains soft and weak and the legs be-
come much bent and may sven refuse
to carry the weight of the body alto
gether.
But the point az issue here is not
ordinary diseases of the bones, but the
real origin of excessive lack OF bone
growth making the dwarfs shown at
theaters and In the circus. and also
the excessive supply of bone making
that produces the giants that can be
seen in the same shows.
The soft cartilage at the end of each
bone secretes the hard. bony mate
rial, and this happens inside the bone
and out and along its whole length
evenly and equally. so that the healthy
bones grow at all parts OF the same
rate and the same time. In dwarfs
this bone-making cartilage loses Its
healthy condition and fails to secrete.
The result In no more bone material,
and dwarfs are turned out by MIXTURE.
Usually this condition IL uneven. SO
that dwarfs have almost natural-Sixed
bodies and very short legs. Also with
giants the body itself Ia not SO very
much overgrown, but the bones of the
legs suffer. from overactive glands and
grow enormously long. raising the
body and head far up above normal
mankind.
The middle road. where walks aver
age mankind. is the only fortunate
one Both dwarfs and giants are sick
people. and both are usually much
shorter lived than normal-sized hui
mainly. Dwarfs are proverbialiy cross
tempered and giants are supposed to
enjoy sort of slow-witted good ma
turs.
The condition that brings about
dwarfs Is more easily understood than
that which produces the giants The
glands that produce bone material
seem to be In some curious manner
under the mysterious control OF the
thyroid gland. In the. dnarfs tsais
Gland fails to reach normal activity,
and In giaptism the thyroid gland ov-
erdoes its work. The one-makinx
cartilage In the lags naturally is called
on to do mcgt or the growing pro-
cess. and where there is ovcrproduc-
ton the leg bones take up most OF
this unheaithy excess.
For giantism no cure has even been
suggested. but for dwarfed children d
number Of most startling results have
been brought about by injections OF
secretion from thyroid glands taken
out OF calves. The whole subject or
dwarfs and giants Is one OF great pop
nlar interest, and II Is interesting also
to know that cruel-hearted science
boldly denies that such a thing as a.
race OF giants could ever have existed,
and that to-day the average man ii
taller than his ancestors OF prehtstoric
tirnee,--New York Telegraph.