A FAMILY WITH HEREDITARY (GENOTYPICAL) TREMOR 101 



before her death, ^vhen she became insane. On one occasion she is 

 said to have attempted to throw herself into a well, but was prevented 

 from doing so. In the parish register it is noted down that this woman 

 was insane and that she died of »a fit > at nearly 86 years of age. No 

 tremor was to be found. She was married twice and had 4 children 

 in all who reached mature age. Among these and their children no 

 case of tremor has occurred. 



The other surviving child of the ancestors was a son (Magnus N. 

 * 1828 ''A,., t '-/g 1907) who reached an age of a little more than 78. 

 From his, youth he had the same tremblings as his son Alfred (see 

 below), and was very like the latter both in body and mind. He was 

 a total abstainer until he was nearly forty, after that he indulged 

 alcohol, but only moderately. 



By his normal (tremorless) wife Magnus N. had 4 children, two 

 of whom, namely Alfred N. and Tilda K., had tremor and took after 

 their father also in other respects. Of the two remaining children the 

 daughter, Alma E., was quite free from tremor. The son, Victor N., 

 who resembles his mother, has been slightly afflicted with tremor 

 after becoming an adult. 



Alfred N. (born 1854 ^^In), the eldest of the children, is said, like 

 the father, to have been »born with tremor». Before school age he 

 already heard his mother say: »You are like your father, because you 

 tremble.» The earliest recollection of having trembled, however, the 

 patient dates as far back as the infant school. When making his first 

 attempts in the art of writing and trying to learn to write pot-hooks his 

 hand shook so that the pot-hooks grew jagged and irregular. Fora long 

 time, however, the trembling was rather insignificant and was in gen- 

 eral not much noticed when he wrote. In a signature from May 

 18th, 1884 — Alfred N. was then 30 years of age — there is no trace of 

 tremor. When the patient was excited or noticed that some one was 

 obsei ving him, the tremor grew worse. In like manner it was more 

 difficult to write with pen and ink than with pencil. However, the tremor 

 never hindered .him in his work. It was exclusively restricted to the 

 arms, and was from the beginning a little more intense in the right 

 arm (and hand) than in the left. 



As he grew older trembling increased in intensity. Thus a signa- 

 ture from October 6th, 1902 — Alfred N. was then 48 years old — 

 shows a quite unmistakeable tremor. At the present time his writing 

 is nearly illegible, as is shown by the specimen here given. 



A knife and fork the patient has been able to manage, but a spoon 



