Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-12
HEREDITY IN EPILEPSY
By H. Addington Bruce

TRESH evidence controverting the common
II belief that epilepsy is direct product of
A heredity and is itself fatally hereditable
and consequently that epileptics should never
marry-haS recently been forthcoming from sew
eral sources Some Of this evidence would
summarize today, because of the large number
of people to whom it must be for one reason
or another of much interest.
Particularly impressive, as bearing on the d.
rect inheritance of epilepsy are the findings
of an investigation made by a Philadelphia
physician, Dr.. C. w. Burr.
Dr.. Burr looked up the parentage of nearly
fifteen hundred epileptcs-1449, to be exact
and found that only thirty-four of these had
epileptic fathers or mothers. Many, to be sure,
had epileptic relatives other than parents, and
had parents or other relatives in whose life
histories there were taintS of insanity, crime
or alcoholism.
But, as shown by the figures less than IA
per cent were the children of parents them
selves epileptic. Therefore, to give the gist of
Dr. Burr's conclusion:
considering all the data, 1t is safe to assume
that the effect of heredity in epilepsy is rarely
direct; that usually it is indirect and general.
not specific.
"In other words, predisposition to nervous
or mental disease is inherited The resulting
specific diSease-whether insanity, epilepsy. or
what not-dependS on external causes II is
environment in the broadest sense of the
word"
And, approaching the problem from the point
OF view of the likelihood of epileptics transmit
ting their epilepsy to their offspring, equally
impressive are some statistics presented by two
Boston medical men, Drs. D. A. Thorn and G. s.
Walker.
In their investigation Drs. Thorn and Walker
included III parents-forty-one males and sew
| enty-Slx femaleS-in whom definite diagnosis
| OF epilepsy had been made. In all there were
porn to these parents total of 131 children
$50 being alive at the time of the investigation
| so far as DrS. Thorn and Halker could ascer-
| tam, only twenty-five of all the parents had
| brought into the world children tainted like
themselves. Yet no fewer than ninety-nine of
| the ~ parents had been the victims of So
| called essential epilepsy
| Moreover, with reference to the occurrence of
mental and nervous disturbances other than
epilepsy IN the children of the parents studied
the boston investigators found showing Sc
| favorable as to lead them to affirm:>
| These mental and nervous disorders are less
frequently found in the offspring of the so-calleo
| epfleptlc than has heretofore been believed and
the future of the offspring of epileptic parents
IS not so hopeless as the pessimiStc authorities
on heredity record"
Still, bearing in mind Dr.. Burr's findings il
would certainly seem the course of prudence t.
exercise special care in the rearing of the chill.
dren or eplleptlcS ,aS regards the developmen
OF mind control and nerve control,
Lacking such training they might all too read.
ny preak mentally or nervously under stresses t.
winch children of stronger nervous constitution
would be sufficiently reSiStive,
| Copyright, 1927