upon the nervous system, which impression is reflected to the materials destined to form the new being; and we desire to be understood as saying that the "force of formation" of an organ is entirely independent of the existence of that organ-the cause and not the effect-but we are unable to refer to other influences, which operate in producing this impression upon the brain,itself developed by a nisus formativus,—than those originated by the Deity, at whose Almighty fiat man first sprang into existence; and it may have been then that the power of self-development, together with the power of developing all others, was stamped by an omnipotent hand upon this important organ. To recur to some of the prominent hereditary diseases already noticed, it may be remarked that upon instituting a comparison between the degrees of prevalence of phthisis in different climates, an inquiry suggests itself as to the cause. There is, perhaps, no clime which does not afford it a victim, but it is found to prevail especially in extremes of heat and cold. We have adopted Stokes' division into "constitutional" and "accidental," and have attempted to draw from a paragraph of Liebig, already quoted, the explanation of the origin of constitutional phthisis; and we would now suggest that extremes of heat and cold-especially the latter-act as local irritants, and thus increase the number of cases by adding "accidental" to the "constitutional," the latter, I have little doubt, being equally prevalent in all climates, population, of course, taken into consideration; and the remarks which apply to phthisis are equally applicable to scrofula. Ot cancer and gout we can say but little-the causes and nature of the former, as already remarked, are involved in great obscurity, and of the latter, observation does not enable us to offer anything more than hypothesis, for which, however, we claim the support and corroboration of general laws, to which there can be few, if any exceptions. I may remark, however, that I have under my observation children (all of whom are adults, and most of them advanced in life,) of two different individuals who were destroyed by cancer, none of whom have ever presented any spmptoms of the disease. We come now to consider a disease which places the question of the transmissibility of the "morbid ingredient" more completely at issue than any other with which we are acquainted. Syphilis cannot be attributed to conformation or predisposition, but it is beyond all question the result of a specific virus; and hence it is seized upon with the greatest avidity, as affording the best evidence of the transmission of diseased matter. We now premise the following question: is congenital syphilis to be ascribed to hereditary transmission or contagion? To prove that syphilis falls under the same laws which govern the hereditary descent of other diseases, numberless cases have been adduced. We shall take occasion to notice two of these only, stated upon the authority* of Prof. Geddings of Charleston, and which are quite as pointed as any others. The first is that of a woman who, after being discharged by her surgeon as cured, bore several children, some of whom were born dead and others surviving but a short time, from the effects of the disease. The other case occurred in the child of a lady "above suspicion," but whose husband acknowledged that he had been infected previous to marriage. The inference deduced from the above cases by the reporter, is that the disease was communicated by hereditary transmission and not by contagion. The communication between the mother and foetus in utero is so direct that hereditary transmission can hardly be placed in the scale with contagion, and when we take into consideration the great length of time required to destroy the virulency of the syphilitic poison, even after all external evidences have disappeared, we are not bound to attach much importance to the latter case. A case in point is furnished by Colles, of a man who having married a few days after his chancre had healed, abraded the cuticle and infected his wife; and I have little doubt that the lady "above suspicion" was also infected, though perhaps the disease was rendered occult by the changes undergone in pregnancy. The following case now under my observation is worthy of notice, and may afford further evidence on the subject. In the spring of '45 a woman became infected with syphilis, for which no remedies were employed for four or perhaps five months after, when she was put upon a course of mercury, (calomel,) together with the usual local applications; after complete salivation, she was, to all appearances, cured, but a few months after, it re-appeared, and she was again ptyalised with similar effect; it again re-appeared, she was again salivated, and again appearances proved fallacious Corrosive sublimate was now employed in two successive courses and followed with iodide of iron. She was now considered entirely restored; but when there were no appearances of disease-having been carefully examined-she communicated it to a man. Since that time a very small ulcer has appeared upon the verge of the anus, which she states to have been caused by external injury-mechanical. It is now two months since she was considered perfectly well; a month since, she communicated it to the man, and the ulcer is of four or five days duration. She is now under a course of vegetable alteratives and her general health excellent. Had this woman borne a syphilitic child during the last period of her apparent recovery, we have no doubt that the advocates Thesis on Hereditary Transmission. By E. N. Love. Published by the Medical Committee in 1844, |