1893.] Zoology. 667 
ZOOLOGY. 
A Deformity Inherited.—An account is given in a medical 
journal by Dr. M. L. Holbrook of a case of deformity transmitted 
through three generations to both sexes. It appeared first in a 
person named M. B. Wadsworth, born in Connecticut about the 
year 1800. It consisted in the absence of the three middle meta- 
carpal bones and phalanges of each hand, and also the absence of the 
three middle corresponding bones, the metatarsal and phalanges of each 
foot, together, of course, with the absence of the toes and fingers and 
that part of the foot and hand belonging to these bones. The remain- 
ing parts lay nearly side by side like fingers, and the movement was 
partly from side-to side like claws, rather than a grasping movement, 
like that of a perfect hand. This man was very able bodied, and 
worked at farming and laying stone wall, and lived to be about sixty 
years of age. He married, moved to Ohio and being a neighbor of my 
parents, I knew him well. He had !two children, S. and W. with 
whom I was intimate, and both inherited the deformity. In the oldest 
one, however, there seemed to be an attempt on the part of nature to 
restore the missing parts by producing one double finger on each hand, 
and a foot partly restored, but the restoration was so imperfect as to 
really make the deformity worse. This son died in early manhood 
and left no family. The second son, W., was nearly like the father in 
both handsand feet. He is still living, married, and has had four child- 
ren. The first is a man, grown and is not deformed. The second, a 
girl, now about eighteen years old, is as bad as the father. The 
third, a son, not deformed. The fourth, a daughter, now dead, was 
like her father. : 
As to tbe cause ofthis strange deformity we have no absolute knowl- 
edge. One story current in the family is that the mother of the 
original ease was frightened at a lobster before the child was born. 
There is another family belief concerning the cause that is worth relat- 
ing. It is that the mother received a severe nervous shock from a 
vicious horse, whieh had chased her with open mouth and tried to get 
hold of her with his teeth after she had taken refuge under a wagon. 
'The mental shock may have produced an arrest of development in the 
unborn child. (Herald of Health, Oct., 1892). 
