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CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



of inheritance of such tendencies is still largely a matter of conjecture 

 and needs further research before definite conclusions can be drawn. 



A bulletin of this Office has shown a strong familial tendency to the 

 formation of multiple neurofibromatoses, and it is naturally of great 

 interest to attempt an analysis of the available material on the more 

 malignant forms of the neoplasms in humans, to determine if possible 

 whether or not they show the influence of heredity. 



For this purpose the very numerous family histories at the Eugenics 

 Record Office have been studied, and a careful tabulation of families 

 showing cancer has been made by Dr. Little, with the help of Miss 

 Charlotte Gower, Miss C. W. Oilman, and Miss D. M. Newman. 

 As a control, the table given by Hoffman (Mortality from cancer 

 throughout the world) on the number of deaths from cancer per 

 100,000 inhabitants in the United States Registration Area (1903-1912) 

 has been used. These data are divided by sex and age groups as 

 shown in table 10, from which the chance that any individual will 

 die of "cancer" can be directly calculated. In our tabulation (table 

 11) individuals still alive have all been recorded as negative and have 

 been given their individual values according to their respective age- 

 groups and their sex. They represent unfulfilled chances for the pro- 

 duction of cancer. In addition, the deaths from causes other than 

 "cancer" have been added, thus deliberately increasing greatly the 

 difficulty of demonstrating an heredity influence. 



Table 10. — Absolute number and rate per 100,000 of population of deaths from cancer at 



each age and for each sex. 



(From F. L. Hoffman.) 



The first group (A) to be considered is composed of fraternities 

 whose father was cancerous and whose mother was normal. 



In each sex and the total the excess of cancerous individuals among 

 he progeny of cancerous fathers and normal mothers is striking. 



