17 OCTOBER 1992, Page 24

Bend sinister

Sir: I was disconcerted to read Theodore Dalrymple's description of Dupuytren's contracture (a fibrous growth in the hand) as 'a condition rare in anyone but a heavY drinker' (If symptoms persist, 3 October). My mother had it. Her story was that it was hereditary and she got it from her father. The only other sufferers I know of are (In apparent order of abstemiousness) a Sun- day newspaper columnist, a Newmarket trainer, and of course Lady Thatcher. Not, on the face of it, a serious soak among them.

Anthony Gilbey

White Lion House, Wangford, Beccles, Suffolk