J 8 Account of a Family 



and Jonathan; David, \vho is dead^ had nothing of the father's 

 mark, l»ut, 



Joiiatha'.i has tl'c peciiliaritv complete. 



Tiic sixth, Zeiah Colbma, the extraordinary calculating boy, 

 is marked like hJs father, as before described. 



The seventh, Mary Colburn, is naturally formed. 



Tile eighth aixl last child, Enas Colburn, is also exempt from 

 the fatlier's peculiarity. 



Besides the persons I have mentioned, this hereditary redun- 

 dance of limbs has been attached to the little fingers and to the 

 little toes of several of the ancestors of the familv. The mother 

 of Abiah Colburn brought the peculiarity into his familv. Her 

 maiden name was Abigail Green : she however had not the ex- 

 tra nnger on one of her hands; the other hand and her feet 

 were similarly marked with those of her son Abiah. 



David Colburn, the lattier of Abiah, had no peculiarity. By 

 his marriage with Abigail Green, he had three sons and one 

 daughter. Two of tliese sons and the daughter were ftilly 

 marked in all the limbs ; the other son had one hand and one 

 foot naturally formed. 



Abigail Green inherited these supernumerary limbs from her 



mother, whose maiden nrnie was • Kendall, and she had 



five fingers and a thumb upon each hand, and six toes on each 

 foot. 



The marriage of Kendall with Mr. Gr^en pro- 

 duced eleven children, v.hom Abiah Colburn's mother, who was 

 one of the eleven, reports to have been all completely marked: 

 but the present family are ur.r.c(iuainted with the history of tlie 

 other ten branches, and they do not possess any knowledge of 



their ancestors beyond Kendall, tlie great grandmother of 



Zerah Colburn. 



Numerous exam.plcs of the hereditary propagation of pecu- 

 liarities have been recorded: all family resemblances, indeed, 

 hoW'Cver trifling they may appear to a common observer, are 

 interesting to the physiologist, and equally curious ; though not 

 so rare as those described in the preceding history. In every 

 department of animal nature, accumulation of facts munt always 

 be desirable, that more reasonable inductions may be established 

 concerning the laws which direct this interestinsf part of crea- 

 tion : and it might be attended with the most imjjortant con- 

 secjuences, if discovery could be made of the relative inP.uence 

 of the male and female sex in the propagation of peculiarities, 

 and the course and extent of hereditary character could be as- 

 certained, both as it affects the human race in their moral and 

 physical capacities and as it governs the creatures which are 

 subdued for civilized uses. Nor is it altogether vain to expect, 



that 



