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The following "Observation" appeared (in Latin) in the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina of 1757 and to our knowledge has never been published in the English literature. We came across the report in the early 1970s while preparing the report "Cleft lip and cleft palate: one genetic system" (Chabora and Horowitz, 1974). The 1757 paper was translated by a member of the Columbia University Greek and Latin Department, but reached us too late for inclusion in our references. Forgotten for many years, the paper, and its translation, recently came to light in our files. Christopher Jacob Trew's clear description of penetrance and expressivity in a kindred in which both cleft lip and palate and isolated cleft palate are segregating may be something of an historic curiosity at this point, but we expect that others will enjoy reading this early example of a careful and thoughtful pedigree study.