24 Minor-Brachydactyly 



could be obtained from No. 5 as he is bordering on senile dementia. 

 No. 7 was most reluctant to give me any information and tried to 

 mislead me. (As an example, I may mention that on asking about her 

 brother No. 5, and mentioning him by name, she said she had no such 

 brother.) 



The facts about No. 1 and his five children were however correctly 

 given by her, and were confirmed by her mother, the widow of No. 3, 

 and by other members of the family from tradition. 



The abnormals are represented by black circles and the normals by 

 white. Where there has been the least doubt as to the individual 

 being normal or abnormal the circle is included in brackets; these 

 must not be counted in reckoning the ratio of abnormals to normals. 

 The abnormals only are numbered. 



The information I first obtained to the effect that the schoolboy 

 (No. 21) was the only affected member of his family was not correct, 

 for it is seen that not only is a younger sister (No. 22) of the same 

 type, but the mother also (No. 14): and it was not "the grandfather 

 on the father's side" but the maternal grandmother (No. 7) who had 

 transmitted the abnormality. 



There were 16 abnormal members of the family alive at the time 

 of ,my visits and I interviewed each of them, but I regret to say that 

 in some cases I was not allowed to take any measurements. 



What is the condition of the hands ? 



The abnormality resembles in many respects that described in my 

 paper "An Account of a Brachydactylous Family^": whilst there are 

 other features in which it differs. The fingers are not so short, and 

 for this reason 1 propose to term the condition "Minor-Brachydactyly." 

 The former family will be referred to as "No. 1 family." 



Fig. 3 shows the hand of the boy already referred to (No. 21). 

 The upper hand is that of a normal brother who is two years his junior 

 (No. 21a). 



The Brachydactylous condition is sufficiently evident, but that it is 

 not so marked as in No. 1 family is shown by comparing Fig. 4 which 

 is taken from my former paper. 



As the bones of this boy's hands are not yet fully ossified, it will 

 be well, before describing them from the radiograph, to point out the 



^ Proceedings of the Roy. Soc. of Edin. Vol. xxviii. Part i. 



