Year: 1943
Type: article
Abstract: 6JORNA77prominent and large lower jaw.His test swallowing of air involved a big movement, but he performed it without difficulty.He pointed out, quite truthfully, that his palate was anaesthetic to a normally adequate stimulus.When he was given a glass of water he held it to his mouth, tilted it a lot, made much play with lip movements, got red in the face, and swallowed small quantities with much apparent effort.rrue to type, there were other symptoms behind the presenting one.The patient readily volunteered that he " wanted to confess to fear"; he had struggled against it since the age of I1.Before that time he had been fearless, especially in fighting, which he used to enjoy.From kindergarten days he had always fought.upon the assumption that he would win.But at 1 I he was involved in two fierce fights in the school wash-house.In the first the other boy did not wish to fight but A. B. did.The enemy fought very pluckily, but A. B. worked himself into a " tremendous fury " and at the end the other boy was " a nasty sight."In the second itght A. B. early received a glancing blow on the face near the jaw.Suddenly he felt he must run away or he would be " knocked to pulp."He acted on the impulse, and since then had never been able to hurt anyone or to stand anything approaching a row.Later on, as an adult, unreasonable fear had become attached to car- driving, cliff-climbing, and other adventures in which he forced himself to accompany an " utterly fearless " fiancee Above all, he feared the occurrence of a situation where honour demanded that he should fight-e.g., an insult offered to his yqung lady.A. B.'s interests were connected with refined city life.He was sociable, friendly, and humorous, and a Sunday-school superintendent.He described himself as likely to be a " perfect curate," and this occupation he has since adopted.But into his developing ideas about people there had crept an obserVant but peculiar interest in physiognomy.In his own mind he classified people into two types according to the shape of their jaws.Men or women of one, which he called the " aggressive " (meaning successfully aggressive) or " leader " type, had vertical ascending rami to their mandibles and receding lower jaws with the upper front teeth more prominent than the lower.He held that, in contrast, a backward-sloping vertical ramus, promirnnt lower jaw, and protruding lower teeth, together with a small mouth, " caused " a recessive weakness of character.This " non-leader " type, into which the patient him- self exactly fitted, also had thin lips and a small and quiet swallow, as opposed to the large mouth, full lips, large and noisy swallow of " leaders, children, and natural people."t-is fiancde was in this favoured category.
Source: BMJ
Author: J. B. Fleming
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1986292187