Familial spastic paralysis is in many ways one of the most interesting of the heredofamilial diseases of the central nervous system. It may occur in a simple form as a pure spastic paraplegia, as it was first described by Strümpell,1 in 1886, but is apt to present itself in a complex form and may, in fact, be one of the most bizarre of all its group. It may occur in only two of a large number of siblings or in all of the members of a single generation. A single generation may be affected, or the disease may crop out in as many as six generations. While many cases have been reported in the European medical literature, and particularly in the literature of the northern countries, few detailed family histories have been published in American medical journals. In fact, with the exception of the excellent articles by Rhein,2