612 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



It has been stated by one or two casual visitors that the natives of 

 Inishkea were dwarfed and very degenerate, but this idea seems to have 

 arisen from the islands having been visited at a time when most of 

 the able-bodied men were away at the lobster-fishery, and only the 

 immature, the old, and the ailing were at home. !N'o man of less than 

 1640 m.m. (5 ft. 4J in.) was met with on either island, and the men 

 appear to be robust and athletic, while the women are, on the whole, 

 good looking. 



The people themselves do not seem to ascribe any ill effects to the 

 close intermarriage. It is doubtful if these unions are proportionally 

 more frequent in Inishkea than on the mainland. 



Diseases. — The following account is believed to be correct, though, 

 as before stated, there was much difficulty in obtaining accurate 

 information on this subject. Actual figures are given wherever they 

 could be obtained. 



The principal diseases may be classed as follows : — 



Insanitij. — A considerable number of cases occur in Erris, mainly 

 in the mountainous districts, comparatively few in the Mullet, and, 

 all informants agreed in stating, that there have been none for many 

 years from either north or south Inishkea. 



The prevalence of insanity in the mountainous regions may pro- 

 bably be partly due to illicit distillation, and the influences of worse 

 food and inferior dwellings compared to those of the people of the coast. 



Idiocy and ImhecilHy . — Repeated inquiries failed to find more than 

 two imbeciles, one on south Inishkea, and the other in Belmullet. 

 Two members of the family in the south Inishkea case are lame ; no 

 history could be obtained relative to the parents. 



Epihfsy is not very common, but several cases (number not ascer- 

 tained) are known ; none of these are in the islands. 



Beaf -mutism. — There is one case of deaf-mutism in Belmullet. 

 Parents were said not to be related. No cases in the peninsula or on 

 the islands. 



Blindness, except among the aged, is not common. A congenitally 

 blind boy was drowned in the year 1893, trying to cross in a curragh 

 from one of the islands to the mainland with a cargo of poteen. 



Malformations seem to be rare, two cases of hare lip were the only 

 ones seen, and the inquiry failed to find any more except the two cases 

 of lameness mentioned above. 



Fevers. — Enteric and typhus are both common, cases of the latter 

 being of fi-equent occurence. Measles and scarlet fever are not very 

 often met with. 



