Deformity and Character

Abstract

THROUGH the first half of the 19th century, obstetric textbooks stated that asphyxiated babies either died or recovered completely. William John Little described the possibility of a third outcome—movement disorders that would not become apparent until a year or more after the initial insult. In the discussion following the delivery of his classic paper on cerebral palsy before the London Obstetrical Society,¹Dr Little mentioned that he had not found any references to the long-term effects of abnormal and premature parturition in the medical literature. Recognizing the novelty of his insight, he had recourse to Shakespeare for the earliest suggestion of adult deformity secondary to neonatal asphyxia. Without criticizing the historical accuracy of Shakespeare's portrait of King Richard III, he was convinced that the poetic description of Richard's physical and moral character was "exactly that of an individual afflicted with one kind of deformity originating at birth." Delivered after