The different aspects of family phthisis : in relation especially to heredity and life assurance / by Reginald E. Thompson.

  • Thompson, Reginald E. (Reginald Edward), 1834-1912.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The different aspects of family phthisis : in relation especially to heredity and life assurance / by Reginald E. Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    40/258 (page 26)
    2б FAMILY PHTHISIS. the disease in regard to the early period at which the attack ^akes place, and this anticipation of develop¬ ment is further increased under the influence of double heredity. By such succession of arguments and evidence I have endeavoured to establish the truth of phthisical inheritance—a term which must be understood in a comprehensive sense and freed from the considera¬ tions of previous theories which might interfere with an unbiassed review of facts. When the conditions of phthisical inheritance have been minutely investi¬ gated and the probable laws of inheritance formulated, we shall then be in a better position to theorise on the subject ; but before entering on such an investiga¬ tion, it will be necessary to appraise the value of the evidence which is brought forward in these pages, for all evidence of this kind has been frequently called in question ; and especially it has been argued that the evidence of hospital patients is not trustworthy, al¬ though no reason for such doubts has been given. It would, indeed, seem to be assumed that the value of evidence depends upon the social status of the indi¬ viduals, and that it varies directly in proportion as the class of individuals from whom the evidence is derived is higher or lower in the social scale ; but very strong evidence would be requisite before we