“The formal story began in 1866, when a physician named John Langdon Down published an essay in England in which he described a set of children with common features who were distinct from other children with mental retardation.” Down was superintendent of an asylum for children with mental retardation in Surrey, England when he made the first distinction between children who were cretins (later to be found to have hypothyroidism) and what he referred to as "…showed first 75 words of 678 total…

…showed last 75 words of 678 total…the fetuses of women above the age of thirty five. “Most of the children with Down syndrome are raised at home, where their full potential can be developed.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** http://www.geocities.com/~upanddown/ http://www.nas.com/downsyn/ http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?190685#DESCRIPTION http://www.downsyndrome.com/ http://www.ds-health.com/trisomy.htm http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761556944 Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia