72 HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EUGENICS 



in development due to imperfect nutrition of the child bornj 

 of parents (particularly mothers) that are immature or too 

 old. The contention that geniuses and some defectives are 

 born chiefly at the extremes of the reproductive period sup- 

 ports the view of their relationship. 



19. Epilepsy 



This term is believed by many professional men to cover 

 a number of distinct brain disorders that have in common 

 the symptoms known as convulsions or ''fits." All too 

 little is known about the physiology of the forced move- 

 ments of convulsions, accompanied as they typically are by 

 temporary loss of consciousness. It is known that convul- 

 sions may sometimes be induced in guinea pigs by a heavy 

 blow on the brain case, and similar injuries are stated to 

 have produced epilepsy in man. In other cases the ''cause" 

 is stated to be disturbance in the cerebral circulation due to 

 a local stoppage in the blood vessels. However, it may well 

 be questioned whether such causes are sufficient and not 

 merely inciting, whether an inherent weakness did not first 

 exist, which was only disclosed by the blow or disturbance 

 in the circulation. A fall on the ice may result in a child's ''• 

 first epileptic fit but thousands fall on the ice without more 

 than temporary discomfort; it was not the fall merely but 

 the fall plus the too delicate nervous organization. 



The hereditary basis of epilepsy has been studied and, 

 rather remarkably, it follows the same laws as feeble- 

 mindedness. Two epileptic parents probably produce only 

 defective offspring, and the defect sometimes takes the | 

 form of epilepsy, sometimes that of feeble-mindedness. It 

 does not seem necessary to repeat the laws of heredity for 

 epilepsy since in them the words epilepsy and feeble- 

 mindedness are almost interchangeable (Figs. 38-43). 



The warning against the evils of poorhouses as breeding 



