88 HEREDITY AND EUGENICS 



stone effigy. In 1874 the tomb was opened and re- 

 paired by one of his descendants. The skeleton was 

 identified by the cleft skull and the fracture of the 

 right thigh bone. The finger bones, when examined, 

 showed the same ankylosis that exists in his modern 

 descendant. On the stone efhgy the fingers, w^hich 

 were somewhat damaged, also showed precisely the 

 same thickening of the middle joint as described in 

 his descendant. Clearly, then, this defect has been 

 handed down for more than 500 3^ears as a Mendelian 

 dominant, and the genealogy of the family shows that 

 it must have been inherited through fourteen genera- 

 tions. This, I believe, is the longest period on record 

 for the tracing of an anatomical abnormality in man, 

 though the Hapsburg jaw extends back equally far. 



In America, Cushing (191 6) has described essentially 

 the same condition, but no connection with the 

 English family can be traced. The condition in this 

 family closely resembles, or is identical wdth, that 

 in Walker's Maryland family (see p. 84), though no 

 relationship between them has been traced (see also 

 p. 82). They are commonly spoken of as " straight- 

 fingered," because the fingers can only be partly 

 closed on the palm. There is complete absence of the 

 proximal joint in all except the index fingers, in 

 w^hich there is a trace of a joint. In this finger slight 

 movement is possible, but the middle phalanx is very 

 short. The greater effect on the middle phalanges is 

 true also of Drinkwater's minor-brachydactyly, and 

 is probabty due to the fact that the ossification 

 centres appear later in this phalangeal row, this being 

 the last row to ossify and the terminal row the first. 

 The toes are likewise affected, even occasionally, as 

 in '' lobster claw," when the hands appear normal. 

 It is quite probable, according to Cushing, that the 

 articulations betw^een the proximal and middle rows 

 of phalanges are the last to be laid down, and that 



