Congenital Absence of the Shaft of the Femur on Both Sides

Sir,?The case reported by Capt. Katdare in the June number of the Indian Medical Gazette (Congenital Absence of the Shaft of the Femur on Both Sides) is extremely interesting. In view of the rarity of the condition, it is rather depressing to read, 'The family history is of no importance\ Writers on heredity like Gates (1929), Baur, Fischer and Lenz (1931), and Snyder (1941), all agree that absence of the patella is a hereditary condition determined by a dominant gene. One should therefore expect one of the parents to show this condition. Again, the left hand appears to be a variety of split-hand or lobster-claw (I hope the writer means this when he calls it a typical 'claw-hand'), which also is determined by a dominant gene. According to genetic principles, one of the parents should show this deformity also. Even assuming that the condition is recessive as Lenz believes, it would be worth while to find out if the parents in this case were cousins or not.