104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



fallacy, when he said, that the one dream which comes to pass is re- 

 membered and quoted, while the ninety and nine which do not come 

 to pass are forgotten. Just so, one case of an insane child or grandchild, 

 nephew or niece, of an insane person, is quoted as proof of the doctrine 

 of hereditary transmission ; while the twenty other offspring of the same 

 person, who never showed a trace of insanity, are forgotten. It is dif- 

 ficult to adduce evidence on this point ; for while it is comparatively 

 easy to trace back the pedigree of a madman, and find insanity some- 

 where in his family, either in the direct or collateral line, since statis- 

 tics prove that at least one out of a thousand in the whole community 

 sufier more or less from this disease, — it is not so easy to trace the line 

 forward, to lay bare the history of a whole family, and to prove that no 

 one of them, at any time or in any degi'ee, has suffered from insanity. 

 Only in the case of a prominent historical family, where all the facts are 

 on record, or are generally known, is such evidence attainable. 



Fortunately, there is one case of this sort that bears directly on the 

 question. George III. may be said to have been constitutionally insane, 

 the malady breaking out several times in the course of his life with 

 great violence. In 1788, in 1801, and again in 1804, the disease ap- 

 peared, each attack incapacitating him for the exercise of his royal 

 functions for several months. In 1810, there was a fourth and final 

 attack, the disease then darkening into hopeless imbecility, and contin- 

 uing for ten years, the remainder of his life. It is now stated, also, 

 though the fact was not divulged in his lifetime, that he had an earlier 

 attack, in 17G4, when for some weeks he was under restraint. But if 

 we trace back his lineage for six generations, as far as James I. of 

 England, not one of his ancestors can be found to have ever suffered 

 from this complaint. Besides, he had seven brothers or sisters, and 

 seven uncles or aunts ; and as several of these married and had fam- 

 ilies, he had a goodly number of cousins and of nephews or nieces. Yet 

 it does not appear that one of these ever showed a trace of insanity. 

 Evidently, then, George III. did not inherit the disease. Did he trans- 

 mit it ? Here the evidence is equally abundant and satisfactory. This 

 insane king had fifteen children ; and as many of these had families, 

 either legitimate or illegitimate by English law, there was a crowd of 

 grandchildren. The Duke of Clarence alone had, by Mrs. Jordan, ten 

 children. A very hurried search will enable one to enumerate 15 chil- 

 dren, 22 grandchildren, and, including the children of the present 

 Queen, 18 great-grandchildren, — say, in all, 55 descendants. Yet in 



