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[GOITER AND CONGENITAL IODINE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME IN SVANETI] Svanetiya. Zob i kretinizm v Svanetii [i.e. Svaneti. Goiter and Congenital Iodine Deficiency Syndrome in Svaneti]

Orbeli, D.

Item #2183

St. Petersburg: Vestnik dushevnykh bolezney, 1904 (Tipografiya M.I. Akinfiyeva i I.V. Leont'yeva). 8, 150, [4] pp.: ill. 23,1x14,6 cm.

Owner’s contemporary cloth binding. Near fine. The author’s ink inscription on the fore-title: “To Dear Petr Khristoforovich … in good memory from the author.”
Scarce. First edition. Text in Russian. Dedicated to the noted Russian psychiatrist Pavel Kovalevsky (1849-1931). With ca. 54 never-before-published black-and-white photographs from the expedition, mostly showing patients with goiter and CIDS, as well as healthy people from Svaneti.

An early Russian scientific study on goiter and congenital iodine deficiency syndrome in Svaneti, Georgia, by David Orbeli (1852–?), a well-known Georgian psychiatrist and neurologist. Orbeli authored numerous works on psychiatry and ethnography and was an active participant in the congresses of Russian naturalists and physicians. His interest in the goiter issue was sparked during his studies at Kharkov University, where Professor Pavel Kovalevsky suggested he organize an expedition to Svaneti, though Kovalevsky himself was unable to participate.
The expedition members – Orbeli, a photographer, and local guides – departed from Kutaisi in 1903, primarily traveling by carriage and horseback. They passed through Muri and Tsageri, following the road along the Tskhenis-Tskali River to reach Choluri. From there, they crossed through Mazram and Lashkheti to Lentekhi, eventually making their way to Ludji and on to Upper Svaneti.
The book can be divided into three sections. The first provides a comprehensive geographical and cultural overview of the region, including its climate, flora, fauna, and communal organization. The author explores the social structure (princes, nobility, peasants), trade, and ethnography, along with local language, traditional costumes, food, crime, and the phenomena of “blood feuds” and “hairy people.” Education, religion, and folk practices are also examined. The section is supplemented with an interesting table listing communities of Southern and Northern Svaneti by gender population (with all but four communes having more men than women).
In the second section, the author delves into the history of goiter and cretinism in the region, analyzing previous scientific studies by Russian and foreign scholars, including Sain-Lager, Maffei, Paracelsus, Rosch, Ancelon, Morel, Tourdes, Chabrand, Meyer-Ahrens, Niepce, Boussingault, Ol’derogge, Pantyukhov, and Shperk.
In the final section, Orbeli presents the expedition’s findings and includes a table showing the distribution of goiters and cretinism in the communities of Southern and Upper Svaneti. He concludes that the prevalence of both conditions is around 4% of the population and argues that these diseases are acquired rather than congenital. Orbeli also observes that both ailments are frequently associated with dental anomalies, short stature, hydrophobia, poor hygiene, and small skull size, although most individuals affected are generally mild-mannered. He emphasizes the role of water as a contributing factor and suggests five measures to combat the issue, including improving living conditions, developing transportation infrastructure, providing medical care, and relocating affected individuals.
Overall, an interesting early study on goiter and congenital iodine deficiency syndrome in Svaneti.

Worldcat shows 2 copies of the edition at Harvard University and Hofstra University Library.

Price: $750.00