212 



Brachydactyly 



[CH. 



Perhaps the epiphysis of phalanx III is sometimes also 

 unrepresented and it may be that phalanges II and III are 

 sometimes originally one cartilage, but there is not always 

 complete union between these phalanges even in adult life 

 (compare Figs. 24 and 25). 



Another point of exceptional interest is the fact that 

 all the abnormal persons were unusually sho7^t in stattire 

 as well as short in the fingers and toes. This association 

 of characters was equally pronounced in Farabee's and in 





■it*,^f^ 



A B 



Fig. 24. Skiagrams of normal {A) and brachydactylous {B) members 

 of Drinkwater's family. Both are adult. (From his photographs.) 



Drinkwater's families. The latter author gives many details 

 of measurement from which it appears that the average 

 height of the normals exceeds that of the abnormals in 

 males by 8J inches and in females by 4f inches. The dis- 

 proportion between the head-lengths was relatively much 

 larger. Upon what structural peculiarity the reduction in 

 stature depended was not discovered. There was no indi- 

 cation that the length of the limb-bones was out of pro- 

 portion to that of the trunk. The whole series of facts has 



I 



