PHYSICAL CHARACTERS IN MAN 137 



to move both hands and arms in the same direction 

 at the same time. Only four other cases of this rare 

 condition are known in the medical literature, and 

 they were all recorded in Germany. In Drinkwater's 

 case, if the bo}^ held a pencil in each hand and wTote 

 with the right hand, the left would produce the 

 same words in mirror image form. Attempts to move 

 one hand when the other was held caused acute pain. 

 This case was unique in that the synergia was accom- 

 panied by similar sensations in both hands w^hen only 

 one was stimulated, the unstimulated member feeling 

 the sensation more intensely. Crossing of sensations 

 also occurred. Thus, when a hot test-tube was held 

 in the right hand, and a cold one in the left, the left 

 hand felt hot and the right cold. 



The motor phenomena in this case were traced 

 through nine individuals occurring in four generations. 

 The manner of inheritance is in harmony with that of 

 a Mendelian dominant, except that one w^oman, four 

 of whose ten children showed the condition, did 

 not exhibit it herself. She probably, however, was 

 affected in infancy and outgrew it. Every infant has 

 to learn to use its right and left limbs independently, 

 and this power of unilateral control develops earlier 

 in some individuals than in others. One boy in this 

 pedigree w^as able to overcome the synergia at the age 

 of fifteen years, after repeated efforts. The condition 

 is, then, essentially one of failure in development of a 

 particular function. 



Among many inherited peculiarities of the blood 

 system may be mentioned one cited by Windle (i 891 ) 

 from the Chicago Med. Joitrn. and Exa))i., 1879, 

 p. 475. The radial arter}' of a male in both arms 

 passed over the supinator longus muscle at 3 to 4 cm. 

 above the wTist, and ran over the radial extensors 

 above the styloid process to its normal distrilnition. 

 All his children had the same abnormalit}' on tlie left 



