H. Drinkwater 331 



base or metacarpo-phalangeal crease to the tip, is normally as long 

 as the width of the palm at the knuckles ; in these people it is ap- 

 proximately half," the average length in the adults being |. " Sometimes 

 it is shorter than the first finger." The extreme shortness in one or 

 two cases is due chiefly to the metacarpal bone. The hand, measured 

 from the carpal end of the radius to the tip of the first finger, has an 

 average length of about 5 inches. The width of the hand exceeds the 

 normal in numerous instances. 



Markings. " The skin creases are peculiar. Each finger shows 

 only one crease, corresponding to the space between the first and 

 third phalanx'. It i.s single, like the one present in ordinary fingers 

 opposite the second joint." The crease "opposite the first joint is 

 double in most normal hands." 



" Whilst it would be difficult to tell thut there are only two 

 phalanges in each finger, from an inspection of its dorsal aspect, the 

 palmar view shows clearly that such is the case ; and this is confirmed 

 by radiography in the majority of instances." 



" The palm shows two peculiar lines." " One runs straight across 

 the hand transversally. ..it appears to be a union of the palmist's lines 

 of " heart " and " head." 



" The second line, often the deeper of the two, starts from the 

 middle of this transverse line and runs to the space between the first 

 and second fingers." This is shown very distinctly on Nos. 20, 38, and 

 39 (Plates XII and XIII). It is occasionally faintly visible in normal 

 hands, but as a rule is quite absent. 



" The skin is loose, and the whole hand is soft and fiabby." 



" The palm is very compressible, owing to the wide intermetacarpal 

 spaces." The fingers are all " double jointed," i.e. they can easily be 

 flexed dorsally by slight pressure applied directly to their palmar 

 surfaces. 



" A slight lateral pressure makes the palm half an inch narrower, 

 without altering the plane of the metacarpals. The narrowing is not 

 due to a transverse folding of the hand." 



" On flexing and extending a finger at the basal (metacarpo-pha- 

 langeal joint) slowly, one can feel that the opposing surfaces are not 

 uniformly curved as in the normal hand. At certain points the 

 phalanx seems to slide over a ridge. This is what one would anti- 

 cipate from an examination of the radiographs." " The ring-fiinger in 

 several instances is bent at the middle, so that the tip points towards 



' A bone of the finger. 



