EPILEPSY. 137 



other two were " weak " i.e., imbecile. Of that family 

 there will never be another generation. The second 

 was the family of an epileptic, who married a woman 

 of the insane diathesis. The family tree is given at 

 page 1 08, and shows the disastrous effect of this 

 parental combination upon the offspring. 



In this case the epilepsy of the father, combined 

 with the insane taint in the mother, came very nearly 

 reaching the necessarily fatal type and exterminating 

 the family in one generation. Of the five wretched 

 children born, the first was epileptic, the second epi- 

 leptic and insane, the third an impotent idiot, and 

 the fifth insane a melancholiac with strong suicidal 

 tendencies. In fact, the family was so saturated with 

 nervous disease, that the end was almost reached. 



It must not be imagined that the above family 

 records are in any way exceptional; unfortunately, 

 they are only too common. I take the two below 

 from Dr. Fletcher Beach, of Darenth Asylum : 



CASE I. 



All seven died in convulsions. 



Here the father, in whom the family taint was repre- 

 sented by mere irritability, begot a family of ten who 



