"Marriage of a Microcephalic " (details from "A Wedding"), 1806 Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

The groom has a "dysmorphic" facial features or facade, and it appears that his head is small (microcephalic). Dysmorphic implies disproportion, and microcephaly implies a smaller head than 99% of those of others. The vast majority of microcephalic persons also are mentally dull or oligophrenic. Combination of dysmorphic "facies" with microcephaly is a strong indicator that the groom has a "syndrome" (abnormalities "running" concurrenty). Identifying a specific syndrome accelerates the discovery of cause (etiology), pathogenesis (mechanisms), therapy, and genetic prognosis (in this instance, the bride may be at risk of conceiving a child with the same "syndrome").