IT HAS been noted during the past decade that an increasing number of cases of multiple sclerosis are coming to the attention of neurologists, ophthalmologists and general practitioners. Various attempts have been made in the past by different observers to obtain statistical data on this disease (von Hoesslin,1 Brown and Putnam,2 Sachs and Friedman3). Those observations, however, were never on a large enough scale to give a clear picture of the distribution of multiple sclerosis. It has, therefore, not been possible to determine whether or not an actual increase in the number of patients is taking place or whether improved medical care and examining methods have had their share in revealing cases of the disease which previously had remained undiagnosed.
The only statistical figures on a nationwide basis which so far are available come from Switzerland. There, Ackermann4 found an incidence of 4 to 5 cases