The deformity was especially
transmitted in the female line.
Instances of supernumerary thumbs are cited by Panaroli,
Ephemerides, Munconys, as well as in numerous journals since.
This anomaly is not confined to man alone; apes, dogs, and other
lower animals possess it. Bucephalus, the celebrated horse of
Alexander, and the horse of Caesar were said to have been
cloven-hoofed.
Hypertrophy of the digits is the result of many different
processes, and true hypertrophy or gigantism must be
differentiated from acromegaly, elephantiasis, leontiasis, and
arthritis deformans, for which distinction the reader is referred
to an article by Park. Park also calls attention to the
difference between acquired gigantism, particularly of the finger
and toes, and another condition of congenital gigantism, in which
either after or before birth there is a relatively
disproportionate, sometimes enormous, overgrowth of perhaps one
finger or two, perhaps of a limited portion of a hand or foot, or
possibly of a part of one of the limbs. The best collection of
this kind of specimens is in the College of Surgeons in London.
Curling quotes a most peculiar instance of hypertrophy of the
fingers in a sickly girl.
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