I30 HEREDITY AND EUGENICS 



present in several cases in mother and child; hyper- 

 trichosis or excessive hairiness, which is said to be 

 usually associated with deficient dentition ; and gluteal 

 prominences, a racial character in Hottentot women. 

 Congenital luxation (dislocation) of the femur was 

 traced through five generations, and on both sides 

 of the house. Cleft-palate and hare-lip are said to be 

 undoubted^ hereditary, but many more data con- 

 cerning their inheritance are required. Rischbieth 

 (1910), in a study of these malformations, collated 

 the data regarding their incidence. They are often 

 associated. Frobelius examined 180,000 children in 

 the Foundling Hospital of St. Petersburg during 

 thirty years, and found one or both conditions in a 

 total of 1 1 8 cases, br o-o66 per cent. Among 67,945 

 children examined at London Hospital in 1908, 

 thirt3'-nine showed the deformity in one form or 

 another, hence a frequency of 0-057 P^^* cent. But 

 this figure is too low, because some children attended 

 more than once. The condition is said to be more 

 common among defectives, and it is often, though not 

 always, associated with other deformities. \ 



Of similar origin are branchial fistula (failure of 

 the branchial clefts in the neck to close before birth), 

 and hypospadias (abnormal opening of the urethra), 

 both of which show signs of being hereditary. Eden- 

 tulism or partial absence of teeth, sometimes accom- 

 panied b}' a peculiarity of the hair, is hereditary, 

 and was traced through four generations in one family, 

 being accompanied by inherited polydactylism in 

 the fourth generation. Among malformations of the 

 eye, instances are quoted of microphthalmus, absence 

 of iris, coloboma (failure to close choroidal fissure), 

 congenital dislocation of the lens, and strabismus 

 (squinting) being inherited through several generations. 



There are many early records of hermaphroditism 

 or allied conditions in man, many of which would 



