50 MARRIAGE AND DISEASE. 



Here, in the family of this cancerous man whose 

 brother was a suicide and neurotic woman, we have 

 the innate degeneracy showing itself in the seven chil- 

 dren as cancer, consumption, epilepsy, infantile con- 

 vulsions, insanity, want of development, and sterility. 

 Two of the children happily succumbed before maturity 

 was reached, and of the remaining five three were 

 sterile, two consumptive, one epileptic and insane, and 

 one cancerous. Only one has until now escaped the 

 family blight, but as he may yet develop insanity, 

 cancer, or some other disease degeneration, it cannot 

 be said that even one of the whole family reverted to 

 the healthy type. So far as we know, the taint in the 

 mother was not deep, yet apparently its presence was 

 sufficient to ensure the transmission of the degenerate 

 type by rendering reversion to the normal impossible. 

 Had this woman belonged to a healthy family, there 

 can be little doubt that, notwithstanding the deeply 

 degenerate father, reversion to the healthy would have 

 occurred in some of the children at all events, the 

 chances of such reversion taking place would have 

 been vastly increased. 



Many other cases might be given like the above. 

 That quoted from Dr. B. W. Richardson at page 185 is 

 instructive. There the intermarriage of the cancerous 

 and consumptive temperaments resulted in the destruc- 

 tion of every child by one or other of these diseases. 



From what has been said it should be clear that, 

 notwithstanding this law of reversion, it is possible to 

 alter the family type considerably, if only sufficient 



