Seven-fingered hand cast "mirror hand," 1853 [WAM 00917]

Item Information

Title:
Seven-fingered hand cast "mirror hand," 1853 [WAM 00917]
Description:
The subject was a German machinist, age thirty-seven. Born in 1815. The patient believed the hand was an advantage at playing the piano. He died of chronic diarrhea at Massachusetts General Hospital in March 1852. The limb was removed and dissected by Dr. F. S. Ainsworth. Known as a "mirror hand" the cast shows a hand lacking a thumb and consisting of a bisected mirror image of itself. Of the carpal bones, the trapezium and naviculare were wanting and the forearm consisted of two ulnae one of which was well formed, but no radius. The central finger received two extensor muscles; the malformation being regarded as a fusion, by radial edge, of the two extremities. Plaster cast of adult hand and part of forearm showing seven well-developed and well-formed fingers, but no thumb.
Creator:
Sawyer, Albert F.
Date:
1853
Format:
Objects/Artifacts
Location:
Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine)
Collection (local):
Warren Anatomical Museum
Casts
A cast of the hand pre-dissection (Warren Anatomical Museum Catalog Number 6155) was created by the Boston Society of Medical Improvement.
Subjects:
Polydactyly
Fingers
Abnormalities
Upper extremity
Wrist
Hand
Arm
Plaster casts
Link to Item:
https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/items/show/5819
Terms of Use:
The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all the materials in the collection. For use information, contact the Warren Anatomical Museum Curator
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
The limb (WAM 6156) was removed post-mortem from a thirty-seven year old German machinist by Dr. F. S. Ainsworth of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement. Mr. Sawyer, a medical student, made the cast of the preparation and donated it to the Warren Museum in 1853.
Identifier:
Warren Anatomical Museum Catalog Number: 00917