Abstract
The study of the Rh Factor in all its ramifications is an
extraordinarily fascinating one, and the discovery of its
presence in human blood has lead to far -reaching consequences.
Many workers on both sides of the Atlantic have done intensive
research work on this subject since the discovery of the factor
was first published in 1940. The great majority of these
workers have been concerned essentially with its influence on physical disease, the mental aspects being either ignored
entirely or only lightly touched upon.
Recent work in America, however, has suggested that
possibly the Rh factor may play an important part in the
aetiology of some cases of mental deficiency, at present of
unknown aetiology. The number of cases of mental deficiency
in our institutions, apart from the large number cared for at
home, both in this country and in America, as well as in other
countries, lends urgency to any research which will throw light
on the cause of this distressing condition; as prophylaxis is even more essential in mental deficiency than in most other
forms of disease owing to the fact that there is no possible
cure. If a means of preventing even a small proportion of the
present number of defectives from being born could be found,
the result would be well worth while from an economic and social
point of view, apart altogether from the avoidance of the
distress caused to parents who have the misfortune to produce
a :mentally defective child.
The object of the present work is two-fold. In the first
place, a review of the literature will be given, showing on the one hand how the Rh factor came to be associated with the
condition known as E rythroblastos is Foetalis, and on the other
how this condition was associated with Kernicterus and its
consequences. An attempt will be made to correlate these two
lines of research and to show how the idea developed that the
Rh factor may cause certain cases of mental deficiency other
than those obviously associated with Kernicterus. In the
second place, my own investigations will be described, and my
results compared with those already in the literature. Certain
case histories will be described and commented on, and finally,
attention will be drawn to any inference and conclusions that
can be made,
