HUMAN DEGENERACIES 169 



This is one of the very few cases where both parents 

 [i.e., Nos. 14 and 21, B generation] suffer from the same 

 transmissible disease.* 



The Facts of the Pedigree. 



Generation A. 



No. 1, The uncle of B generation. An old man, 

 now dead. His symptoms ensued when he was more 

 than 80 years old and progressed to total blindness. 

 It was graphically described to me how when he wanted 

 to know the time, he would grope his way from his chair 

 to the corner where the clock stood and feel over its 

 face to find the position of the hands. 



Nos. 2, 3, and their marital partners. No history of 

 lenticular cataract or blindness. 



Generation B. 



Nos. 1 to 12. No history to record. Are said to 

 have been normal. 



No. 13. Married. Had six children. Mother, father, 

 and children not affected. Her vision remained quite 

 good up to 78 years of age. 



No. 14, The nephew of No. 1, A, and father of Nos. 15 

 to 26 in generation C. When I first saw him within a few 

 months of his death from apoplexy at the age of 76 he 

 disclaimed any eye affection except a long-standing 

 and steadily progressive presbyopia for which he was 

 wearing glasses. Examination, however, revealed the 

 presence of unripe cataract in both eyes. 



Nos, 15 and 16, Both married normal and unrelated 

 partners and had normal children, 



Nos, 17 to 20, As far as known there is no evidence 

 of lenticular cataract or of blindness. 



No, 21, The wife of No. 14, B, She is not related 

 by blood to her husband. Age 70 years. Cataract in 

 the left eye for the past ten years. There was no history 

 of traumatism to the eye. Her cataract has apparently, 

 as already suggested, arisen de novo, as no indications 



* Compare Mr. E. Nettleship, " Three New Pedigrees of Senile Cataract," 

 Ophthalnwlogical Society s Transactions, vol. xxviii., 1908, p. 224, where 

 he describes the first instance known to him of the same heritable eye 

 disease present in both parents. — [Editor.] 



