| Description Of Item | Illustration from the collection of Alexander Morison. Plate 81 of Morison’s 'The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases' (1840). Unsigned [Alexander Johnston].
'Portrait of G. D.; aged 28.
This idiot is four feet, six inches in height; his head does not differ much in size from the head of a sane person, it is rather depressed in the frontal portion.
His lips are thick, and his mouth is gaping, allowing the saliva to drop out of it; his teeth are good, but very irregular; his gait is awkward and unsteady; in walking he stoops forward, his knees a little bent, and his arms hanging before him, as if he were about to fall: his usual position is that of leaning against a door, and gently beating his head upon it.
He appears to possess the external senses — that of feeling is very obtuse ; he cannot say any more than — tee tee, which he frequently repeats, particularly in bed; he sleeps little; his temper is good; he is inclined to laugh, but in a very discordant manner; he can feed himself, but cannot dress or undress; he is inattentive to the calls of nature; he does not exhibit affection for any one, appears to have no sense of shame, and music does not excite any emotion in him; he is said to be inclined to onanism.' |