Rick'ets, n. pl.

n. pl. [Prob. fr. A-S. ricg, hric, back, spine. Cf. Ger. rücken, and see RACHITIS.] (Med.) A disease which affects children, and which is characterized by a bulky head, a crooked spine, depressed ribs, enlarged and spongy articular epiphyses, tumid abdomen, short stature, flabby and wrinkled flesh, together with clear and often premature mental faculties.

“I will, while ’tis in my mind, insert this remark, viz.: About 1620, one Ricketts, of Newbury,—perhaps corruptly from Ricardo,—a practitioner in physic, was excellent at the curing of children with swollen heads and small legs; and the disease being new and without a name, he being so famous for the cure of it, they called the disease the ricketts, as the king’s-evil from the king’s curing of it with his touch; and now ’tis good sport to see how they vex their lexicons, and fetch it from the Greek ῥάχις, the back-bone.” Aubrey, Nat. Hist. of Wilts. “Dr. Johnson says the name was given by Dr. Glisson on the first appearance of the disease. Dr. Glisson was contemporary with, and probably known to, Mr. Ricketts, and therefore Aubrey’s statement may be correct.” M. A. Lower.