558 Mr. Graham Brown. Alleged Specific Instance of [Dec. 9, 



Darwin in 1868 (10), and in 1870 Brown-Sequard published a number of 

 short notes on the subject. The condition might be transmitted from the 

 father only, and the mother might acquire the condition from the father (14). 

 In seven instances he observed malformation of the feet in the offspring of 

 parents, male or female, winch had the phenomenon. In several of the 

 offspring there was an " epileptogenous zone " and " incomplete epilepsy " 

 (15, 16, 17). Another animal born of an " epileptic " mother had loss of 

 toes and became " epileptic " — probably because of an alteration in a sciatic 

 nerve (19). 



In 1871 Westphal, who produced the state of " epilepsy " in a different 

 manner, confirmed the transmission of the condition to the offspring (23, 24), 

 the attacks being " incomplete." 



Brown-Sequard later gave greater details of the phenomenon of transmission. 

 Thus, in 1875, he gives a list of the various conditions which he has observed 

 to be transmitted (25). In this, he includes transmission of the state of 

 " epilepsy " from " epileptic " parents whose sciatic nerves had been cut, 

 and transmission of malformation of the feet from similar parents. He 

 states that he has never seen "epilepsy" in normal guinea-pigs, although 

 he has had many thousands under observation, and he also says that the 

 transmission of malformation of the toes is very rare — he has only 

 recorded 13 cases — and that the inheritance of " epilepsy " is only seen 

 in such cases. Another paper, in 1882, adds little new (32). He, however, 

 states that he had, at the time, 20 young guinea-pigs, the offspring of 

 parents in which the sciatic nerve was cut, and that these offspring had 

 muscular atrophy of the legs in consequence. 



Other observers have investigated the problem of this transmission. 

 Brown-Sequard states that his pupil Dupuy had confirmed him (32). 

 Westphal, as we have seen above, did also (23, 24). 



Bomanes (35) says that " epilepsy " produced by lesions of the cord and of 

 the sciatic nerve is seldom inherited, and he also states that the malforma- 

 tion of the feet produced in operated animals by their habit of nibbling 

 the parts of the feet rendered anaesthetic by section of the great sciatic 

 nerve did not appear in the offspring he observed through six generations. 



Obersteiner (26) confirmed the transmission of " epilepsy " in guinea-pigs, 

 but more recently Max Sommer (38) failed to do so ; and Bramwell and 

 Graham Brown (42) also obtained purely negative results in the case of 

 10 young, the offspring of " epileptic " parents, which they examined. 



Lately, Taft (52) has failed to observe " epilepsy," or abnormality, in 114 

 offspring of " epileptic " parents, neither did these appear in the third and 

 fourth generations. He lays stress upon the observation of Brown-Sequard 



