Mittelmann1 recently reported four cases of dwarfism and ocular defects associated with heredofamilial disease of the central nervous system. These cases occurred in two generations of a Greek-Jewish family. The neurologic findings suggested disseminated involvement of the central nervous system with resulting incoordination, nystagmus, intention tremor and scanning speech.
The two cases to be presented in this paper were in patients of Mexican extraction. One was a girl, aged 13, and the other a boy, aged 6. Both showed advanced neurologic symptoms, dwarfism and ocular defects. A complete history, extending back over several generations, and examination of the immediate family failed to reveal any tendency toward similar degenerative changes in the parents, siblings or relatives. For this reason, a hereditary background such as Mittelmann described could not be demonstrated. Neither was there any history of consanguinity of the parents, as in Mittelmann's two most advanced cases.
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