MARRIAGE AND INSANITY. in 



shows a certain tendency to nervous disease or de- 

 generation, yet if it did not appear in the parent 

 until after the offspring was begotten, its effect will 

 not be nearly so grave in the children as if the parent 

 had been actually insane before he became such. 

 Every attack of insanity, however brief its course, 

 increases the liability to subsequent attacks in the 

 individual, and also very greatly magnifies the danger 

 to the offspring afterwards born. 



M. Baillarger. after careful research and the study 

 of a great number of cases, arrived at the following 

 conclusions, which have since been verified by several 

 observers and are accepted by most authorities. 



" I. The insanity of the mother, as regards trans- 

 mission, is more serious than that of the father; not 

 only because the mother's disorder is more frequently 

 hereditary, but also because she transmits it to a 

 greater number of children. 



" 2. The transmission of the mother's insanity is more 

 to be feared with respect to the girls than the boys ; 

 that of the father, on the contrary, is more dangerous 

 as regards the boys than the girls. 



" 3. The transmission of the mother's insanity is 

 scarcely more to be feared, as regards the boys, than 

 that of the father ; the mother's insanity, on the con- 

 trary, is twice as dangerous to the daughters." 



And now the question arises which of these should 

 marry ? Who shall take the place of the censor and 

 say, this one and this shall, and these others shall not ? 

 In this very grave position the alienist physician often 



