Medical Genetics 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 MongoloidsMedical Genetics 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 "Mongoloids