A FAMILY OF DEGENERATES 121 



of fifteen presenting a suppurative nasal sinusitis of 

 long standing: this is distinctly worthy of remark, 

 as it is established beyond dispute that one of the 

 common predisposing causes of the low forms of 

 inflammation that lead on to a chronic sinusitis is 

 the existence of some anatomical peculiarity in 

 these situations prcA^enting proper drainage of the 

 normal secretions. The next two children were 

 prematurely born, and both died with fits while 

 still infants. Becoming tired of her husband's 

 behaviour she divorced him, and for years there- 

 after occupied herself in paying on the instalment 

 plan the lawj^er who had ]3ut this matter through 

 for her. After getting rid of her husband she took 

 up with a half-bred Irish navvy, who, like herself, 

 was a thief ; and she bore to him two illegitimate chil- 

 dren. The first of these had a gross malformation 

 of the cerebrospinal axis of the type that is known 

 technically' as spina bifida, and untechnically as "a 

 hole in the back": it only lived four weeks, and 

 mainly spent its brief life in having fits. The last 

 child appeared a fairly normal infant, but at the 

 age of seventeen months it took a cold, and died 

 almost before her relatives were aware that the 

 child was ill."^'" 



It must be acknowledged that there is always 

 room for doubt whether apoplexy does not imply 

 a vascular disorder rather than a nervous one. 

 Though dependent upon degeneracy of the blood- 



* The story is suggestive of pneumonia, the same disease as her 

 mother had died of. 



