60 A SWEDISH FARMER'S LINEAGE 



His wife, was named Kersta (1723—1799). Of her we know but little; however 

 she appears to have been of a mild and retiring disposition, and grieved at the 

 disputes between the children. Their children were, 1. Kersta, who married a 

 farmer, was dark, robust, narrow-minded, conceited, despised by her brothers and 

 sisters. 2. Knut, farmer, member of the District Council, member of Parliament 

 unusually talented, under average height, but was remarkably strong and hardy, 

 was interested in his work, acquired learning, and worked himself up to a pro* 

 minent position in his native place; where he was known as »King of M— by». 

 He was imperious, passionate and hasty. When a member of Parliament, he was 

 one of the Secret Committee, but was not tolerated on account of this temper, 

 hated by his brothers and sisters, and he removed from his native place. He 

 was without doubt a very unusual personality. 3. Bengt, fair, of average height, 

 powerfully built, not particularly intelligent, of a quarrelsome nature, revengeful 

 and fond of law^suits. He was also a clever farmer, drank heavily and was 

 fined several times for fighting. Great hatred existed between him and his 

 brothers, expecially as regards Knut. 4. Elsa, dark, small, powerfully built, in= 

 telligent, proud, revengeful, unrelentless and despotic. She was the principal in 

 the bitter family quarrels with the prosperous brother Knut. 5. Pernilla, married 

 a farmer, not particularly intelligent, otherwise not much is known of her. 

 6. Pehr, a large farmer, member of District Council, member of Parliament, very 

 dark, short, not particularly intelligent, economical, rich, conceited, egotistical, 

 and fretful. He was fined for libel, was elected member of Parliament instead 

 of Knut, for which position he was not suitable. 



We now pass on to the heredity table, this comprises 8 generations excluding 

 ancestral parents. 



We find that in generation III, IV, V and VII diseased individuals appear (all* 

 black symbols). Usually both the parents of the invaUds are apparantly sound, 

 but both have a propensity for myoklonus epilepsy. And as the disease is only 

 found in one district in Sweden, the parents therefore must be related. The 

 parents, on their part must have acquired the propensity from one (or both) of 

 their parents etc., etc. Thus we can conclude that at least one of the ancestral 

 parents must — though apparently sound — have had the propensity in question. 

 It is not impossible that both the ancestral parents had this propensity. The 

 question arises: is it possible to determine this? Yes, undoubtedly. The in* 

 vestigation of this family shows that the ancestral parents had 6 children — as 

 above mentioned — who all became grown up and married. They thus con* 

 stitute the source of 6 different branches of the family. If both ancestral parents 

 had been »heterozygots», with a propensity for myoklonus epilepsy, one at least 

 of these children would have been affected, (that is to say, a recessive homo* 

 zygot), but this was not the case. Whereby, and owing to other circumstan* 

 ces, (see below) we can conclude, that without doubt, but one of the an* 

 cestral parents had a transmissible propensity. If this had been the case, the 

 question arises, which of the ancestral parents had this propensity, theoretically 

 either the husband or the wife could have had it. Sex plays no part in the 

 hereditary transmission of this disease. 



