Dermatoglyphics in Medical Disorders

Schaumann and Alter state in the preface that there has been "wide-spread medical interest in epidermal ridges developed only in the last several decades when it became apparent that many patients with chromosomal aberrations had unusual ridge formations," and they state their intention that their book is to provide an illustrated guide to ridge analysis and also to bring together the widely scattered recent and older information on dermatoglyphic studies in medical disorders. I must state at the outset that this book is certainly a welcome addition to the existing literature that is available on dermatoglyphics and its significance in medicine. There are very few standard works available on this subject, such as Cummins and Midlo's 1961 monograph, which was really published in 1943. There are some special monographs available, such as the one on Down's syndrome by Smith and Berg (Down's Anomaly, ed 2. New York, Churchill Livingstone, 1976),