53 
1907-8.] An Account of a Brachydactylous Family. 
This is probably true, for the affected children included in Table III. were 
certainly the bigger and had the more robust appearance. 
A particularly fine specimen is No. 164, which has a height of 2 feet 
4J inches, although only 9 months old. This is, of course, exceptional, 
and one must not draw general conclusions from single instances. Still, 
from an inspection of the young children, one would certainly never 
suspect that they would eventually be any shorter than their normal 
relatives. 
The general health of the abnormals is excellent, most of them 
declaring that they have “ never been ill,” and I failed to detect signs of 
illness in a single individual, with the exception of the oldest man, who said 
his “ wind was a bit short in going up hill,” and had prevented him work- 
ing for six or seven years. 
On the other hand, several of the “ normals ” are decidedly delicate 
One woman is extremely anaemic, from what cause I did not ascertain : 
another woman suffers from spasmodic asthma ; a man is tuberculous, with 
discharging cervicle abscesses (here the phthisis is probably derived from 
the father, who married into the family, and died of “ consumption ” ) ; 
another woman is cyanotic, and probably suffers from mitral disease. 
Fecundity . — The whole family is very prolific, the number of children 
averaging nearly eleven in nine families, the actual numbers being 17, 
15, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 8, and 6 ( = 97). 
The abnormals are more prolific than the normals. This is shown 
by comparing the two sisters, Nos. 17 and 20 : — 
Children of Mrs W., normal (No. 17) 
. 17 
Grandchildren ..... 
. 21 
Great grandchildren .... 
7 
Total 45 
Children of Mrs R., abnormal (No. 20) . 
. 15 
Grandchildren .... 
. 50 
Great grandchildren .... 
. 34 
Total 99 
Thus one woman, who was normal, has had 45 descendants ; the other 
woman, her sister, who was brachydactylous, has had 99 descendants. 
Of the descendants of No. 17 (normal woman), 9 have married; these 
have left altogether 28 children and grandchildren. 
Of the descendants of No. 20 (abnormal), 18 have married, leaving 
