104 HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EUGENICS 



Thus paralysis, or spasmodic contractions, or even convul- 

 sions not unlike, if not identical with, those of epilepsy, 

 make their appearance. 



The greatest social importance of hysteria lies in its re- 

 lation to crime and responsibiUty. A large proportion of 

 ''criminals'' doubtless are in need of hospital care. The 

 family history of the offender will give the best possible 

 clue to his probable mental condition and, where a ''neuro- 

 pathic blood" is evident, the patient should be segregated, 

 not to punish him but to care for him at the expense of that 

 "society'' which still permits his kind to breed unrestricted; 

 and to prevent, or at least to limit, the further spread of 

 his tainted germ plasm. 



In studies made on 175 famiUes containing epileptics 

 which the author has had the privilege of making with the 

 cooperation of Dr. David F, Weeks hysteria was frequently 

 found associated with chorea, migraine and a "neurotic" 

 condition in the parentage of epileptics and in the offspring 

 of an epileptic or insane parent married to a normal. It 

 acts like a condition induced by a simplex determiner such 

 that the patient produces some defective germ cells. 



25. Rheumatism 



Rheumatism, as is well known, is often associated 

 with chorea. An example of such association is given in 

 Figure 69. 



A second instructive case is that cited by Cheadle (1900). 

 A man who had subacute arthritis and muscular rheumatism 

 and whose sister died at 8 years of heart disease following 

 acute rheiunatism and chorea married a woman who had 

 suffered from acute rheiunatism, heart disease and chorea 

 and had had a nephew affected with rheumatic fever and 

 heart disease and a niece with subacute rheumatism. The 

 child of this pair at 9 years of age had chorea in a most 



