191 1 ] A. J. ROSANOFF AND FLORENCE I. ORR 245 



In the report for the year ending September 30, 1909, the New 

 York State Commission in Lunacy gives the number of insane 

 patients in State hospitals and private institutions as 31,540 or 

 one to 276 in the general population ; this figure does not include 

 the inmates of institutions for the feeble-minded and for epilep- 

 tics, it does not include the neuropathic subjects who find their 

 way into prisons, reformatories, almshouses, disciplinary schools, 

 hospitals for incurables, general hospitals, neurological clinics, 

 etc., and, above all, it does not include the many neuropathic sub- 

 jects whose infirmities are latent or of such nature as not to in- 

 capacitate them for ordinary occupations and life at large. 



An attempt to estimate the proportion of all mental defectives 

 (idiots and imbeciles as well as the insane) in the general popu- 

 lation was made in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, in 1902. In 

 the enumeration were included patients who lived in their homes 

 as well as in asylums. The proportion was i to 117 in the gen- 

 eral population." 



It is clear that the proportion thus estimated must fall far short 

 of the figure that would represent the actual incidence of the 

 neuropathic constitution, for in such an enumeration no account 

 is taken of conditions like hysteria, abnormal disposition, and the 

 like, — conditions which could be included neither with cases of 

 feeble-mindedness nor with those of frank insanity. 



So far as our own material is concerned we have already had 

 occasion to state that of all subjects recorded as neuropathic, not 

 counting those who died in childhood, only 26.3 per cent presented 

 at any times in their lives indications for commitment to sani- 

 tariums or public institutions. If this percentage be regarded as 

 fairly representative in general, then the total incidence of neuro- 

 pathic manifestations would be roughly estimated as affecting 

 between 1.5 and 2.0 per cent of the general population. 



In order to form an idea of the real prevalence of the neuro- 

 pathic taint in the general population it is necessary to know not 

 only the proportion of individuals actually neuropathic, but also 

 that of those who are themselves normal but carry the taint from 

 their ancestors, as represented by the symbol DR. In our mate- 

 rial, out of 172 matings which resulted in neuropathic offspring 



^^ Ergebnisse der Z'dhlung der Geisteskankoi im Kanton Bren, i. Mai, 

 1Q02. Mitteilungen der Bernischer statistischen Bureaus, 1903. 



