BENIGN ESSENTIAL (HEREDOFAMILIAL) TREMOR

Abstract

The affection in question consists of a fine tremor, constantly present in typical cases during waking hours, voluntarily controlled for a brief time, affecting nearly all the voluntary muscles, chronic, beginning at very early life, not progressive, not shortening life, not accompanied with paralysis, or any other disturbances of nervous function. It resembles to some extent the tremor of paralysis agitans, still more a simple neurasthenic tremor. A most striking clinical feature is its marked hereditary or family type, and its transmission along with other nervous diseases.—C. L. Dana. THUS in 1887 did Dana¹definitively describe one common form of the syndrome which has variously been termed hereditary, familial, congenital, infantile, juvenile, essential, idiopathic, presenile or senile tremor. Except for an isolated case report by Mitchell²in 1903, and for brief discussions in neurological texts, the English literature has been silent on this subject until the recent exhaustive