300 



THE TREND OF THE RACE 



employed by Pearson and his colleagues we may consider the 

 First Study oj the Statistics of Pulmonary Tuberculosis which gives 

 data on the order of birth and size of family of 381 tuberculous 

 patients from the Crossley Sanitorium at Frodsham, England. 

 The assumption was made, — which could not be far from the 

 truth — that only one patient was drawn from a single family, and 

 since there were 381 families represented, each of which must have 

 contained a first born member there must have been 381 individ- 

 uals among the families represented who were first bom-children. 

 Since the size of the families was ascertained the numbers of 

 second, third and subsequent born could readily be calculated. 

 If we divide the tuberculous patients in the first, second and third 

 bom, etc., in the same ratio in which these classes occur in the 

 members of the tuberculous families in general, we obtain a series 

 of numbers which may be compared with the members of first, 

 second, third, etc., born among the tuberculous patients which 

 were actually found. The following table gives the expected 

 frequency of tuberculosis patients and the actual frequency in the 

 groups representing the various orders of birth: 



The table indicates a great preponderance of the tuberculous 

 among the first bom. Comparisons of the distribution of tuber- 

 culous patients with the relative proportions of first, second and 

 subsequent born among the population of New South Wales 

 showed the same excess of the tuberculous among the earlier 

 bom individuals. 



Dr. Heron has come to the conclusion that insanity is especially 

 prone to attack the first born members of a stock. In Goring's 



