Mental Disease and Defect 



45 



Elsa H. was known for a long time to be mentally unbalanced 

 and very deaf, but complete diagnosis was never made nor insti- 

 tutional care provided. However, her daughter, epileptic and 

 violent, was committed to an insane hospital. At the patient's 

 death, due to pneumonia, autopsy revealed a brain tumor. 



A study of the heredity of these patients is shown in Table 

 XVI. 



TABLE XVI. TRUE INSANITY— HEREDITY 



Nervous disorders in parents 6 



Insanity in parents 3 



Insanity in brothers or sisters 3 



Insanity in relatives^" 3 



Nervous disorders in brothers or sisters 3 



Feeble-mindedness in brothers or sisters 2 



Feeble-mindedness in relatives 2 



Suicidal brothers 2 



Alcoholism in parents 2 



Tuberculosis in parents 2 



Tuberculosis in brothers or sisters 2 



Tuberculosis in relatives 2 



Epilepsy in parents 1 



Epilepsy in brothers or sisters 1 



Deafness in parents 1 



Feeble-mindedness in parents 1 



Suicidal father 1 



Suicidal relative 1 



Nervous disorders in relatives 1 



Total 39 



Grace C, now in an insane hospital with a diagnosis of 

 dementia praecox, is said to have shown first symptoms at eight- 

 een years of age. However, she gave birth to an illegitimate baby 

 when sixteen years old and is reported to have had a psychosis 

 following typhoid fever when she was a child. Her father is alco- 

 holic, her cousin was a suicide, and an aunt was insane. 



Lilly H., age twenty-three years, sent to the hospital for tonsil- 

 lectomy, was difficult to control or keep in bed and was discovered 

 to be insane. Her father and mother are reported mentally sub- 

 normal and a brother and sister who are twins are imbeciles. 



The second group of the insane (Table XVII), those who have 

 psychoses not true insanity, is made up of 42 individuals, all over 

 sixteen years of age except 1 female who is fourteen. There 

 are 2 negro females, 2 foreign-born females, and 1 foreign-born 



^° Relatives include only uncles, aunts, cousins, or grandparents. 



