J. Hoffman bestows the above name on an affection of which he reports an original case, with further observations on three cases which had been previously described by F. Schultze, and an abstract of the literature of the subject. The disease seems to be a rare one, but he finds observations by Eulenburg, Eichhorst, Hammond, Charcot and Marie, Herringham, Tooth and Osler. It is in a marked degree hereditary, usually affecting several members of a family, and descending, in some of the recorded cases, to the sixth generation. Males are more frequently affected than females, and healthy females, in families subject to the disease, may bequeath it to their male offspring.
It may appear in infancy, and usually develops in early life, but cases are recorded in which the first symptoms were observed after thirty years of age. It probably begins with atrophy of the small muscles of the feet,