concerned with the hereditariness of a predisposition to it ; 

 and although it must be admitted that the influence of 

 heredity is less potent than in that of gout or rheumatism, 

 yet I maintain that like all other constitutional conditions, 

 however they may be modified in transmission, a predisposi- 

 tion to rheumatoid arthritis is transmissible, and this in the 

 face of much opposition. Thus Garrod says : " Hereditary 

 tendency does not appear to exert any very special influence ; 

 for in looking over the histories of numerous cases, I fail 

 to find much evidence of its action ; if it exists at all, it is 

 much less powerful than in gout. We often find one 

 member of a large family suffering severely from this disease, 

 and the others entirely free from it." Now the great 

 authority from whom I have just quoted does not deny that 

 it is hereditary to some extent, but admits that the hereditary 

 tendency is less powerful than in gout. I also admit this ; 

 but until the question is settled as to why some morbid 

 affections should be so much more strikingly hereditary 

 than others, we must be content with the fact that such is 

 the case, and rely entirely upon the light afforded by an 

 ever-increasing experience. That experience warrants our 

 belief in the hereditariness of rheumatoid arthritis is 

 evidenced by the testimony of Professor Charcot, who, in 

 forty-one cases, found a hereditary predisposition well 

 marked in eleven. Moreover, Garrod strives to strengthen 

 his negative testimony as to the hereditariness of this disease 

 by instancing the fact of one member of a large family 

 suffering severely from it, whilst the others remained free ! 

 May I venture to ask if all the children of phthisical, 

 scrofulous, or even gouty parents, have these predispositions 

 transmitted to them in the identical forms, and in similar 

 degrees, as those existing in the parents ? Surely not ; else, 



