The first [-second] medical report of the Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest, presented to the Committee of Management, by the physicians of the institution.

  • Brompton Hospital
Date:
1849-1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first [-second] medical report of the Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest, presented to the Committee of Management, by the physicians of the institution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Insanity* has been chosen, because its statistics are very accessible, whilst no doubt can exist as to the frequency with which this disease is transmitted from parent to offspring. The result of the comparison is curious :—We find that, in males. Insanity is an hereditary disease in nearly 12 per cent, of the cases observed, whilst Consumption is so in 18 per cent. In females. In¬ sanity is hereditary in about 13| per cent.. Consumption in 36 per cent. In both sexes taken together, the per centage of Insanity is 12|, of Consumption 24|^. Thus the probability of Consumption being transmitted to the offspring by a parent affected with that disease, is as two to one when compared with the probability of the transmission of Insanity from an insane parent. A remarkable fact may be noticed in Table No. XI., illustrating the in¬ fluence of sex on hereditary predisposition. Eighteen per cent, of the males refer their origin to Consumptive parents, w^hilst 36 per cent, of the females (or two females to one male) report their parents as having been Con¬ sumptive ; a careful scrutiny has failed to detect any error in the recorded observations. But the conclusion may be slightly modified, by supposing that females, being more domesticated, know more accurately, and can give better information regarding the histories of their parents. From these facts, however, the obvious conclusion is, that daughters are more liable to inherit Consumptive disease from their parents than sons in the proportion of two to one. In Insanity, this liability is shown but to a much more limited extent, being little more than one and a-half per * Table XIII. The following Table shows the source from whence the information contained in Table XII, is derived. Insane Males. Here- Per Cent. Insane Here- Total. ditary in Females. ditary in Per Cent. Cases. Here¬ ditary. Per Cent. Hanwell Bloomingdale 397 51 12.8 281 27 9.6 678 78 11.5 CU.s.) .... 1,090 118 10.8 751 89 11.9 1,841 207 11.2 New Vork .. 1,017 121 11.9 997 152 15.2 2,014 273 13.5 Morningside (Edin.) .. In. O __ 20 18.7 90 17 18.8 197 37 18.8 Considerable uniformity in the results of observation by different persons is here manifested. It is more than probable, however, that the influence of predisposition operates amongst the insane to a greater extent, but that the difficulty of obtaining information causes it to appear thus limited.