THE QUESTION of whether hemophilia can occur in the female aroused the early interest of students of the disease, and it continues to attract attention, because if an answer can be found, an advance will have been achieved in bringing about a better understanding of a baffling disorder.
Otto1 in his classical article stated, "When the cases shall become more numerous, it may perhaps be found that the female sex is not entirely exempt, but, as far as my knowledge extends, there has not been an instance of their being attacked." In 1770 a case of hemophilia appeared in Tenna, a little village isolated in the Swiss Alps. By 1854 this community with a population of 105 had 16 bleeders: 5 females and 11 males. The bleeding tendency of the women, however, consisted only of profuse menstruation.2 It is very probable that some carriers were married to bleeders,