(9) Limbs Absent or Stunted

Allied to these fused or unseparated states of the extremities, or of parts of them, are the class of deformities in which whole limbs are absent, or represented only by stumps.

The trunk (and head) may be well formed, and the individual healthy; all four extremities may be reduced to short stumps either wanting hands and feet entirely, or with the latter fairly well developed; or the legs only may be rudimentary or wanting, or the arms only, or one extremities only.

Although some of these cases doubtless depend upon aberrant or deficient formative power in the particular directions, there are others of them referable to the effect of mechanical pressure, and even to direct amputation of parts within the uterus.





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Abnormal Development & Congenital Malformations - Table of Contents