PART II. 



MASS STUDIES IN HEREDITY OF ADULT BUILD. 



It is a matter of common observation that in some families the 

 parents and children are all slender; in others, there may be many 

 examples of obesity. Worthington (1877, p. 50) cites a number of 

 examples from C. Bouchard. A woman of 45 years weighs 107 kg. 

 (236 pounds); her obesity began shortly after marriage; her father 

 is very obese and her mother obese. A woman of 49 years, whose 

 father is a Turk and whose mother is French, weighs 117 kg. or about 

 258 pounds; her mother was obese. A woman of 115 kg. or about 

 250 pounds has an obese mother and two sisters who were obese in 

 infancy ; also a gouty mother's father and father's father. 



The following, from Chambers (1850), show obesity "on both sides 

 of the house": Male of 28 years, 120 kg. (266 pounds); woman of 

 48 years, 127 kg. (280 pounds); woman of 52 years, 98.4 kg. (217 

 pounds) ; man of 57 years, 227 kg. (500 pounds) ; woman of 58 years, 

 104 kg. (231 pounds): woman of 68 years, 118 kg. (260 pounds); 

 woman of 70 years, 107 kg. (238 pounds). In many other cases cited 

 by Chambers, one parent of the obese patient was obese. Howard 

 (1908, p. 54) cites the case of a 7-year-old girl, 45.5 inches (115.6 cm.) 

 tall, who weighed 40 kg. (88 pounds), had a pendulous abdomen, and 

 was feeble-minded. Her sibs were not abnormal and her parents 

 were of average build. One of her great uncles weighs 127 kg. (280 

 pounds), an uncle, at 40 years, about 109 kg., and an aunt of 31 years. 

 95 kg. (210 pounds). This case is instructive because of the skipping 

 of a generation. 



In the class of obese cases known as adiposis dolorosa, heredity is 

 usually obvious. Price (1909) cites a case of an obese woman of 48 

 years and weighing 140 kg. (310 pounds) who belongs to a fraternity 

 of 7; 1 was a miscarriage, 2 died young of accident, 1 died at 22 of 

 typho-pneumonia, 1 died young of scarlet fever, and 1 brother is 

 large and rheumatic. The father seems to have been of average build 

 and the mother is stated to have been "very thin." Of her sibs, 6 were 

 fleshy or very fleshy, 1 medium, and 1 slender; the children of these 

 fleshy sibs of the mother are "all stout." 



Lyon (1910, p. 68) discusses heredity in adiposis dolorosa and 

 lipomatosis and cites a considerable number of cases of family recur- 

 rence in his cases and others. Thus he twice treated a father and his 

 son for multiple fatty tumors; also twice a mother and daughter. 

 Lyon's obese case No. 5 was like her 3 sisters and 1 daughter; a son of 

 her father's brother showed similar fatty deposits. 10 other instances 

 of family recurrence of abnormal fat deposit are cited. 



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