No one has yet seemed to tie the whole Down's Syndrome kid thing together yet. RawKyle was on the right track when he said changing the skull shape may affect "glands". In particular, the pituitary gland is sitting right on top of the sphenoid bone, which is connected to the maxilla. Apparently the maxilla expansion did make a difference on the pituitary, because WAP said that the kid suddenly grew facial hair and pubic hair. You can claim he may have exaggerated on behavioral changes, but on such an indisputable physical change, he would have had to either discovered something amazing, or be a flat out liar. The kid was 16 years old-- a little late if you ask me.
Another theory WAP had about the kid was that the continual mouth breathing contributed to his retardation problem. I can't remember if he specifically said "lack of oxygen", but this is the claim of recent carriers of WAP's work like Raymond Silkman, as seen here:
http://www.westonaprice.org/Is-it-Mental-or-is-it-Dental.html. Raymond Silkman claims the nose releases small amounts of nitric oxide when breathed through, and this helps us absorb oxygen. Don't know how true it is-- he also says lack of oxygen causes black circles under the eyes, but I've been told by a doctor that this is wrong. There is also another book on the seemingly ill-effects of mouth breathing called "Shut your mouth and save your life", which predates WAP by about 100 years, as reported by the WAPF journal. This all seems plausible to me, and is another plausible mechanism by which fixing a person's skull could drastically change one's mental ability. "Shut your mouth" text is here:
http://members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/indians.pdf.
And yes, just to reiterate, WAP did not claim to "cure" the boy-- he specifically said that he was drastically improved, but still retarded. But, he went from laying on the floor, playing with blocks and talking to no-one, to being trusted to run errands by himself, taking several trains, and also "having an interest in other people". In fact, he became a "sex pervert" and had to be institutionalized in the end-- another indication his pituitary received a massive wake up call, besides him growing like a foot. This detail is oddly edited out of my print-copy and can be seen here:
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price19.htmlAlso TylerDurden, I believe Price had nothing to do with the Pottenger cat study.
Also, I don't believe that WAP was "not taken seriously" in his day. Regardless of what you read on the Quackwatch page, this is what Dr. Ron has to say:
"He kept meticulous records and photographic accounts of all he saw. His work shows that nearly everyone in traditional cultures had all 32 teeth, perfectly fitting into the dental arch, perfectly formed, as long as the people had no access to refined foods. Eating refined foods invariably caused dental decay and systemic diseases, and in the next generation, crooked and crowded teeth.
Price collected over 10,000 samples of native foods. He sent them back to America for analysis in his laboratories. Price was a pioneer in developing assays for vitamins A and D in the 1920's.
He wrote a textbook on dentistry that was on every United States naval vessel. His studies of problems associated with root canals were rediscovered 70 years later, and became the basis for the recent book Root Canal Cover-Up. His articles appeared in dental journals throughout the twenties and thirties.
His classic book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, was required reading in Harvard anthropology classes for many years. "
http://www.drrons.com/weston-price-traditional-nutrition-5.htmWhile I'm picking apart everything that you said, I might as well mention that WAP photographed and praised many natives with teeth that look "worn out", instead of dodging the subject like you said. The teeth may have been worn down considerably (I don't know the reason why), but Price still upheld them as examples of good health because they did NOT have cavities or decay, and had fully formed dental arches.
