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Show I QUINTUPLETS CONQUER BIRTH HANDICAP They wera tiny and weak when they earn into tha world robust and strong at anyone could ask. Hera they are. corn-but corn-but by tha time they reached their third birthday they ware as pletely normal in every respect; tha roll-call, from the left, shows Emilia, Yvonne, Cecifa, Annette and Marie. i T I Editor's ftots: THil it the last of slant articles telling for the first time re based on scientific papers rssd before 300 scientists at speciel meeting in Toronto. .. j By BIU'CE CATTON (Copyright, 1937, for Salt Lake Telegram TORONTO, Ont., Nov. 8 The Dionne quintuplets have at last overcome over-come the handicap of premature birth and are physically normal. They came into this world under appalling disadvantages, weighing weigh-ing about two and one-half pounds apiece and measuring hardly more than a foot from the crowns of their tiny heads to the curled tips of their toes. Today tne.r average weight is1 slightly above the average weight of a normal child of their age. Their heigh: is a little under normal nor-mal but only a little. 'Ineir sturdy little chests exceed in measurements the cheats of normal nor-mal children of the same age. They have at last caught up with the procession. This news is revealed In a comprehensive com-prehensive study of the quintuplets' physical welfare, based on daily observations sin.'e the girls' birth, .ind compiled by Dr. AlWn Roy Da-foe, Da-foe, the quints' physician, and his brother. Dr. William A. Dafoe, of Toronto. The Excellent Results Dr. William A. Dafoe. prominent Toronto obstetrician and member of the faculty of the Toronto university uni-versity school of medicine, has collaborated col-laborated with his brother in the care of the quintuplets in a number num-ber of cases, and frequently discussed dis-cussed with him the routine which brought the quintuplets out of an unusually frail infancy Into a robust and healthy childhood. That this routine has brought excellent ex-cellent results can be seen by a glance at figures about the sisters' weight and height First, look at their weight. Figures compiled at the Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto, show that ths average nine-month female child weighs approximately seven pounds, two ounces, at birth. The heaviest of the Dionne quintuplets Yvonne came into this world weighing several ounces less than three pounds; the tiniest of the five. Marie, weighed less than two pounds. Ulance. now, at the weight record as expressed in charted curves. From the first, the quintuplets gained In weight at a rate equal to the rate by which a normal baby gains. Despite the almost unimaginable unim-aginable anxletiea of those first few months, when the flame of life was flickering uncertainly, the quintuplets quintu-plets put on weight just as fast as ordinary girl babies da faster Than Normal Today three of the sisters Yvonne, Annette and Cecile actually actu-ally weigh slightly more than girls of their age usually weigh. Emiiie is just at ths normal level: Marie, who started under the greatest handicap, han-dicap, is still approximately two pounds below normal It is much the same In the matter mat-ter of height The normal girl baby is about 30 "4 Inches tall, at birth: ths quintuplets were just about 13 Inches. They gained in height however, faster than ordinary or-dinary children do: at the age of one year they had mads up all but about one and one-half Inches of their deficiency, and at 18 months three of thrm were actually slightly above normal height. Today they are, roughly, about an inch below the normal height for girls of their age. with Yvonne i coming the closest to normal and little Marie missing It by the widest :margin. The following Just compiled table gives the height and weight of the quints at the end of October. 1937, with the changes over the previous months: I Inches Change ' Marie 3.1 ' same i ! Emiiie . ..' 3' 1 inch 'Cecile '. . M'i '4 inch Annette 36' 4 inch ,Yvonne 36 S S inch Lbs Change in lbs. Marie 23's same Emiiie 32 'i Cecile 32 'i H Annette 33 i Yvonne 33 li j I Special Senses. Excellent 1 Examination of the quintuplets'i special senses shows their ears and nosea to be normal. With their eyes, the case is slightly less satisfactory. satis-factory. Yvonne, Annette and Cecile have . eyes that are far-jUghtcd but per-; per-; fectly normal. Emiiie has a little , aFtifrmatism in both eyes, but may never need to wear glasses. In the early stages she showed a tendency j to cross her eyes, but this had en-I en-I tirely disappeared by the time she ! was a year old. A slight inroordina-I inroordina-I tion of her eye muscles has also j cleared up. Marie has a somewhat more pro-' pro-' nounced incoordination of the eye t muscles she does not always use I both eyes equally well in looking at things but the doctors feel that this, too, can be corrected. The girls' teeth Were definitely later than usual in making an appearance. ap-pearance. Their first teeth came on the scene from three to seven months after the maximum time limit for normal children. The general alignment of teeth in all the children is gsod. the teeth are hard and free from decay, de-cay, and from, present indications 1 none of the girls will need the corrective services of an orthodontist ortho-dontist At Intervals, ever since their birth, the quintuplets have been given careful physical examinations. The one completed at the end of their third year shows these findings: find-ings: Good general condition and color, firm tissues, clear lungs, with abdomens, hearts ' and nerve reflexes re-flexes normal Their bodies build, posture, muscular and bony de- ! velopment appear to be normal, I The End |