Nov. I, 1883] 



NATURE 



The next and last ^family of which I have notes was born 

 August 26, iSSi. I received notes of three liittens, but there 

 may have been more: — (l) and (2) females: six toes on each 

 fore and liind foot, as the mother. (3) sex not observed : six 

 toes on all feet, as the mother. 



After this I was un.able to obtain notes, although many fami- 

 lies were born, and a large proportion always possessed the 

 peculiarity. Few people are aware of the immense ditficulty in 

 obtaining accurate notes of a simple observation such as this. 



The mother was subsequently killed. 



I now return to No. (2) of the first family, which was given 

 to a friend on the condition that I received accurate notes of all 

 families. I received one such account. This was of a family 

 of four born in June, 18S1 : — (l) male: normal. (2) female : 

 normal. (3) female : with five toes on the fore paws, six on the 

 hind, same as mother. (4) female : the same as mother, but five 

 toes on the hind feet. Here again the females possess the 

 peculiarity. The mother was also a small, very clever cat, 

 catching birds with the most wonderful ease. There were many 

 families, in each of which quite half possessed the peculiarity, 

 and many of the kittens had the same number of toes as the 

 mother. 



At last, about a" year ago, a female tabby kitten appeared 

 with seven toes on each fore paw, and six on each hind. This 

 was given to me, and is now a small tabby cat, with a tendency 



Fig. 5.— Right hind paw from FlG. 6. — Right hind paw fron 

 above, with extra toes. below, with extra toes. 



Fig. 8.— Right hind pa 

 below, normal. 



towards tortoiseshell coloration on the back. A rough drawing 

 of the right fore foot, as seen from above and below, is seen in 

 Figs. I and 2. Drawings of a normal right fore foot are given 

 in Figs. 3 and 4, for comparison. It is seen that the extra toes 

 are those labelled A and B, and they confer the extraordinary 

 breadth upon the foot. The most recently added is B, which is 

 still partially coalesced with A, and has but one pad in common with 

 it (Fig. 2). This last toe, B, was absent in the cat which I 

 received from Mr. Vaughan. In the first family described, 

 Nos. (l) and (2) possessed the largely developed extra toe, 

 A, while the insignificant pollex (Fig. i, 1) was absent, and thus 

 the foot appeared extremely broad, although with only the 

 normal number of toes. In walking the pollex does not touch 

 the ground, but the claws A and B come down a little later than 

 the rest of the foot, making a very distinct click when the cat is 

 walkiiig on floorcloth. This sound is particularly audible when 

 the cat is coming down stairs. Comparing the pads on the under- 

 side of the foot with those of a normal animal (Figs. 2 and 

 4), there is seen to be an extra pad behind the additional toes, 

 of wliich there is no trace in the normal foot. The left foot is 

 similar to that drawn, except that there are traces of more com- 

 plete fusion between the toes A and It in the slighter tendency 

 towards division shown by their common pad. The right hind 

 foot from above and below is given in Figs. 5 and 6, and a 



normal hind foot for comparison in Figs. 7 .and 8. The 

 correlation of the toes is more difficult here, but there is little 

 doubt that the innermost toe (Figs. 5 and 6, l) is the hallux, 

 lost in the normal foot. 



Comparison with the fore feet renders it likely that the second 

 extra toe is that labelled A in Figs. 5 and 6. On the under- 

 side (Fig. 6) all the toes have separate pads, and there is an 

 additional pad behind the extra toes. This, in the left hind foot 

 of the same animal is fused with the pad behind the other toes. 



On Tidy 10 last the cat I have just described produced a family 

 of four tabby kittens. Strangely enough, they are all males, 

 but they possess the mother's peculiarity to a remarkable extent. 



(1) Forepaws : exactly similar to the mother's, but toes A and 

 I! are more distinct, in that they have separate pads in both feet. 

 Hind paws : precisely the same as the mother's, even to the fact 

 that the left hind pads are continuous and the right hind pads 

 slightly discontinuous (as in Fig. 6). Thus this kitten exhibits 

 on the whole an intensification of the characters. 



(2) Fore paws : the pads of tlie toes A and B are fused as 

 with the mother. The claw of B is broken off, but its base is 

 seen almost springing from the outer side of the base of claw A. 

 Both feet the same. Thus the character is rather less developed 

 than in the mother. Hind paws : the large hind pads are con- 

 tinuous on both feet. All the six toes are distinct on both feet, 

 as with the mother, but A and 2 on the left foot are united by 

 skin, although considerable freedom of movement is possible. 

 Here again the character is rather less than in the mother. 



(3) Fore paws : pads of A and B are distinct on the right 

 side. The claw of B is accidentally broken off. On the left 

 side the pads are also distinct, although the toes A and B are 

 joined by skin. Hind paws : all six toes distinct on both feet ; 

 the large hind pads continuous on both. Thus this kitten is 

 beyond the mother in the separation of the pads of A and B on 

 the fore paws. A and B were more distinct on the right side, 

 where also in the mother the pad showed a greater tendency 

 towards division. 



(4) Fore paws : the greater tendency towards separation on 

 the right side was very strongly marked here, inasmuch as the toe B 

 is entirely absent on the left side, and the pad of A simple. On 

 the right B is present, and its p.ad is joined to that of A, but a 

 little more distinct than with the mother. Hind paws : all six 

 toes distinct and large ; hind pads conlinuons in both feet. Thus 

 the character is, on the whole, less than in the mother. 



This is the last observation made up to the present time, and 

 it is a very remarkable one, in the entire absence of anything 

 approaching the normal form, and in the fact that two of the 

 kittens go beyond the mother, while the other two are but little 

 behind. When the two sides differ, the difference is invariably 

 as with the mother. At the same time the immense strength of 

 heredity in all these cases is seen when we remember that it is 

 practically certain that the fathers of the families have always 

 been normal. It is quite certain with this last family, for the 

 mother was brought as a kitten from Reading to Oxford, 

 where there is a normal male cat living in the house 

 with her. I have never heard of cats with the abnormal 

 number of toes in either Reading or Oxford apart from 

 these. Mr. Vaughan says exactly the same for his cats in 

 South Wales. Thus we must conclude that the heredity is 

 entirely through the females, and yet the character has gone on 

 increasing in my branch of the stock in spite of the normal 

 element which we should expect to be introduced and to make 

 it-elf felt at each stage. I have known of the family through 

 eight generations, and tlu-ee of these have started from entirely 

 new localities (i.e. Haverfordwest from Bristol, Reading from 

 Haverfordwest, Oxford from Reading) to which they were sent 

 as kittens. This is, of course, very important, as it has pre- 

 vented the possibility of interbreeding between the abnormal 

 cats derived from the same stock. 



I ho]5e to contribute a paper to a future number upon further 

 observations, and upon the skeletal peculiarities that accompany 

 the abnormality. Edward B. Poulton 



ON THE ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE OF THE 



HUMAN BODV- 

 'T'HE writer, after premising th.at hitherto electricity in its 

 ■*■ application to the human body had not come up to ex- 

 pectations reasonable in the case of so powerful a force, and 



' Abstract of a paper read before the British Association at Southport, by 

 W. H. Stone, M.A., F.R.C.P. 



