Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part I - Professor Herman Lundborg, Uppsala, The History of a Swedish Farmer’s Lineage as seen from a Race-biological Stand-point
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
point. One can compare the Swedish race with a lofty and vigorous fir. The
farmers may be discribed as the »heart» of the tree itself.
By reason of this faet, we should give this type of family our special atten*
tion. Moreover, we have here a very accessible field of labour.
A scientific investigator would, without doubt, naturally be interested in any
human family whatever, of high or low social standard. Farmers, peasants and
labourers, should interest us, quite as much as noblemen or princes.
It is not rank, titles or, brilliant careers which are the subject of our studies
in race*hygiene, but it is a question, of larger or smaller groups of human beings
connected by biood, or race. It may easily happen, that a single poor, and de»
generated family can teach us more than a dozen others of average type.
The goal, which we are striving to reach is to acquire a thorough know*
ledge of the laws of inheritance as appertaining to mankind. In the struggle,
which is before us, we must undertake assaults from as many different positions
as possible.
THE SWEDISH LISTER FAMILY.
The reason why just this family of farmers, who have lived a very long
time in Listerland in the south west of Blekinge, is the subject of such thorough
investigations, is that a very uncommon family disease obtains amongst its mem»
bers. This disease is known in medicinal literature, as myoklonus epilepsy. It
appears occasionally in other parts of the world, but nowhere is it so prevalent
as in the Blekinge family in question.
It has not been observed in other parts of Sweden. In Norway it is
unknown.
When I, at the end of 1890 arrived in Listerland, my first task was to in*
vestigate the nature of the disease. The doctors in the district had no clear idea
regarding the same. I had, therefore to begin from the beginning, and had to
note all cases of illness, from which, I worked out a genealogical table. A
talented schoobteacher, who was a member of the family in question, and his
nearest relatives, were very helpful to me. I am very grateful for the admirable
assistance they gave me during my investigations.
With the help of the parochial register I succeeded, after much labour, to
obtain such complete genealogical tables that I could trace the origin of the
various branches. It appeared that all lines, as it were, met at one point, that
is to say, all persons who were attacked by myoklonus epilepsy, 17 altogether,
belonging to 10 different households, were offsprings of the same ancestors, who
lived in the 18th century. In other families in the same district not a single
case of this peculiar disease was met with. Hereby I had shewn it to be highly
probable that the disease was hereditary, and not originating from any local con*
ditions, in other words not, of endemic type.
My next task was to investigate which was the course taken by the inherited
disease. By careful analysis (see original work) it is demonstrated that the
disease is inherited as a recessive and monohybrid (simplex) factor in accordance
with Mendel’s law. I shall revert to this question further on.
I now began to eagerly study the disease itself, its nature and development.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
