1883. | ANT [Allen. 
ossification in the bones comprising the column. As aresult of this devia- 
tion the scapula of the left side was displaced and the angle lodged behind 
the wpper border of the ilium. Tt thus appeared to be wedged down. in the 
pelvis. A second acquired defect was found in the muscles of the buttock 
and the back of the thigh. The gluteus maximus of each side was feeble, 
and in no position of the body became tense. The entire labor of holding 
the trunk erect was thrown upon the hamstrings which, particularly the 
biceps flexor, was on each side of enormous size. 
Under the head of Aabdits, the result of the defects described, may be in- 
cluded the manner by which the subject could attend to acts of the toilet 
and to the handling of tools, ete. Like most persons whose arms are either 
defective or absent, the toes and lips become highly functionalized, and 
the methods of their use are in this case no different from others recorded. 
Casey has supported himself, honorably, as a farm laborer and peddler; 
and has, for a period of years extending beyond the average longevity, 
preserved good health and character. For many years he was em- 
ployed as a driver of oxen. The guiding staff was held by the powerful 
pectoral muscles between the arm and the chest. A nail can be driven 
with accuracy and force by placing the handle of the heavy hammer be- 
tween the arm and the chest wall, holding the nail upright between the 
first and second toe of the left foot, and while standing erect on the foot 
of the opposite side, he flexes the left leg at the knee. In this position the 
body is supposed to be standing on the right leg, the left leg flexed and the 
left foot raised upon a bench or stool. The motion of striking the blow 
is secured by throwing the trunk suddenly forward from a position of back- 
yard traction or extension ; the shoulder-muscle being occupied keeping 
the hammer in position between the arm and the trunk. The act of 
writing is accomplished by holding the pen between the flexed arm and 
the side of the head, the lips being used in guiding the pen. Other acts 
such as dressing, shaving, etc , are possible. 
Remarks.—The modern method of studying congenital defects, as for- 
mulated by Meckel and St. Hiliare, father and son, is based upon the 
assumption that every embryo exhibiting an aberrant disposition of parts 
is an example of perverted or arrested development. The school Od Ste 
Hiliare accepts the conclusions that such perversions and arrests are exhi- 
bitions of and reversions to the characteristics of lower animals. * 
While these statements cannot be in all respects controverted, an error 
is prevalent as to the systematic value of aberrant structures, An exam- 
* “These (specimens) compose organic entities perfectly characteristic, amen- 
able to law but placed in another kind of regular arrangement. When mon- 
sters are thus rigorously determined, I propose to group them after the zoologi- 
cal method and to determine for them genera and species.” (Etienne Geotlroy 
St. Hiliare, Ann. Sc. Nat. xiv, 1828, 408.) 
“An animal exhibiting anomaly which is essentially the same in structure as 
a part normally developed in a lower form, may be said to be degraded, and 
thus to have taken on the characters of creatures lower in the scale than itself,” 
(Isodore Geoffroy St. Hiliare, Propositions, etc., 61.) 
PROC, AMER. PHILOS. 800. Xxr, 115 384. PRINTED APRIL 8, 1884. 
