Volume 18

Treasury of human inheritance / edited by Karl Pearson, R.A. Fisher, L.S. Penrose.

Date:
1909-
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Treasury of human inheritance / edited by Karl Pearson, R.A. Fisher, L.S. Penrose. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/38 (page 44)
    Plate XII. Fig. 137. Thomsen's Case. Bilateral webbing of the second and third toes in 10 males and 3 females of 3 generations; the anomaly, usually the same in both feet, was in some cases more marked on one side. Some of the affected individuals also had webbing of the third and fourth fingers, in some cases reaching to the tips, in others less extensive ; the recorder does not state which of the individuals had hands as well as feet affected. III. 4 and 5 were so slightly affected that there was some doubt of their ab normality. II. 5, the uncle of III. 6, the only affected member of his family, had webbing of the second and third fingers on his right hand, with gross defect in the formation of his left hand; his condition bears no relationship to that of other members of the pedigree. Bibl. No. 35. Fig. 138. Berigny’s Case. I. 1 had webbing of the third and fourth toes, on her right foot, extending to the tips; all her 7 children had normal hands and feet, but 3 of them had children with webbing of the third and fourth fingers on the right side only, with normal toes. III. 6 had 3 children, of whom IV. 1 had webbing of the third and fourth toes on the right side and IV. 3 had webbing of the third and fourth fingers on the right hand. This history appears to be atypical in certain respects. Bibl. No. 1. Fig. 139. Wile’s Case. Bilateral webbing of the second and third toes in 2 males and 3 females of 3 generations. Bibl. No. 27. Fig. 140. Kirchmair’s Case. Bilateral webbing of the third and fourth fingers in 4 males and 5 females, unilateral similar webbing in V. 4. IV. 5, with normal hands, had bilateral webbing of his toes ; no information is given as to which toes were involved in the anomaly. Bibl. No. 46. Fig. 141. Davis and Germdn’s Case. Webbing of the third and fourth fingers, bilateral in I. 1 and IV. 1, on the right side only in II. 1 and III. 1. IV. 1, the source of the pedigree, was also noted to have a double terminal phalange in the right ring finger. Bibl. No. 39. Fig. 142. Boskoschny’s Case. III. 1 aged 30, had bilateral webbing of the third and fourth fingers throughout their length ; the phalanges of these digits were normal ; his second and third toes were also webbed, up to the base of the terminal phalanges on the right, to the middle of the middle phalanges on the left. I. 1 and II. 1 were said to present the same anomaly as was seen in III. 1 in their hands ; no informa tion was available concerning their feet. Bibl. No. 21. Fig. 143. Straus’s Case. Webbing of toes in 2 males and 3 females of 2 generations ; details of the cases are not given, but probably the second and third toes were affected. Bibl. No. 31.' Fig. 144. Straus’s Case. Webbing, probably of the second and third toes, in II. 4, whose identical twin was not simi larly affected. III. 1 presented the same anomaly. There was no knowledge of the condition in the parents of either case, nor in the siblings of II. 3 and 4. Bibl. No. 31. Fig. 145. Castle’s Case. Webbing, presumably of the second and third toes, in 4 females of 3 generations. Bibl. No. 28. Fig. 146. Hannebelle’s Case. Webbing of the second and third toes of both feet in I. 1 and his son, II. 1. III. 2 pre sented a more extensive anomaly in that his second, third and fourth toes were webbed on each foot ; further, the second and third fingers of his left hand were webbed throughout their length, the phalanges of each finger being normal; on his right hand the third and fourth fingers were webbed to the base of the terminal phalanges. A still-born sibling was seen to have normal hands and feet. Bibl. No. 5. Fig. 147. Buyer's Case. Syndactyly in 3 males of 4 genera tions; no details of these cases are given, nor are we told which extremities are affected. Bibl. No. 37. Fig. 148. Thomsen’s Case. Two sisters and the child of one of them had bilateral webbing of the second and third toes, extending to the middle of the terminal phalange. Two sisters, a brother and both parents had normal feet. Bibl. No. 35. Fig. 149. Lueken’s Case. Syndactyly of varying severity in 18 males and 29 females of 5 generations. The recorder divides his cases into 6 categories, viz.: (a) Hands normal, second and third toes webbed, in which group are included IV. 4, 21, V. 11, 35, and 37, of whom IV. 4 and her daughter, V. 11, were personally examined. (b) Hands show a suspicion of webbing between the third and fourth fingers; the second and third toes are webbed. In this group are included V. 7, 8, 40 and 41, of whom the three former were personally examined. (c) The second and third or third and fourth fingers are webbed; webbing was noted between the second and third or second, third and fourth toes. Examples of this group are II. 9, III. 3, IV. 3, 16, and VI. 5, of whom III. 3, IV. 3 and VI. 5 were examined. (d) Webbing in the hands extends from the second to the fourth or from the third to the fifth fingers; the second to third or second to fourth toes may be webbed. III. 9, 13, IV. 13, 22, V. 2, 18, 29, 39 and VI. 8 fall into this category, of whom III. 13, IV. 22 and V. 39 were not examined. (e) The second to fifth fingers and second to fourth toes are webbed in this group. Examples include IV. 2, 8,19, 26, V. 30, 31 and VI. 6 of whom IV. 19 and V. 30 were not examined. (/) The second to fifth digit in hands and feet are webbed in V. 5, 17, VI. 14 and 19, of whom V. 17 and VI. 19 were not examined. No member of this family had webbing of the fingers in association with normal toes. In a few cases a difference on the right and left sides was noted. It will be seen that in the categories enumerated the toes only are affected in group (a), and only definitely so in group (6), and that members of these groups may be said to belong to cases of our type A x . In group (c), two digits, not always the same two, are webbed in the hands; in the feet the same two toes are webbed as in groups (a) and (6), but in some cases a third digit is also involved; certain members of this group may belong to our types Aj and A 2 . In group ( d) three fingers, not always the same three, are webbed and the condition of the toes resembles that of group (c). In members of group (e) four fingers and three toes are webbed. In members of group (/) four fingers and four toes are involved. Cases of groups (e) and (/) resemble those of our type C. No example of polydactyly has been noted to occur in this family and no further signs of degeneration or malformation have been reported; members are said to have been good types mentally and physically. It will be seen that the anomaly tends to increase in severity from category (a) to (/), if severity be measured by the number of syndactylised digits, but from the genetic stand point the relationship between the groups is not at all clear. Examples can be seen in which cases of slight severity have similarly affected offspring, but the converse is also demon strable in which a parent with the slightest grade of defect may have a child with four digits in each extremity webbed; affected siblings may resemble one another or may differ widely in the grade of defect they manifest. Bibl. No. 49. Plate XIII. Fig. 150. Schade’s Case. Webbing of the third and fourth fingers in 3 males and 3 females of 4 genera tions. The feet were normal in all cases except V. 2, who had syndactyly, without bony changes, between the fourth and