Section 1 7 — Dermatoglyphics 



dermal ridge arrangements of persons trisomic 

 for autosomes. Anomalies associated with 

 abnormal sex chromosomes are not, on the 

 whole, so marked. Nevertheless, dermatoglyphic 

 peculiarities are discernable. Dermal prints of 

 cases with various abnormalities of the sex 

 chromosomes have been analysed. These include 

 the palm and finger prints of a series of cytologi- 

 cally diagnosed Turners, collected by Dr. J. Lind- 

 sten. 



In Turner's syndrome, where only one X-chro- 

 mosome is present in a cell, three genetically 

 controlled quantitative characters, total finger 

 ridge-count, a-b count and maximal atd angle 

 have been studied. The means of the three 

 distributions differ significantly from those of a 

 control sample. In each case the values are higher 

 than in the normal males and females. Similar 

 differences in means occur in a small samples of 

 Turners with mosaicism (Xo/XX) and in other 

 related conditions. 



It is intended to publish a detailed account of 

 the findings in Annals of Human Genetics, as 

 part of a more comprehensive survey of the 

 dermatoglyphics of sex chromosome abnormali- 

 ties. 



17.5. Aberrant Dermatoglyphic Patterns and Undiffer- 

 entiated Mental Deficiency. Dick Hoefnagel 

 (Hanover, U.S.A.), Jamshed Mavalwala 

 (Cambridge, U.S.A.). 



17.6. Dermatoglyphic Studies at the Anthropology 

 Research Centre, Musee de l'Homme, Paris. 



Monique Gessain (Paris, France). 



The Anthropology Research Centre now 

 possesses several thousand finger prints collected 



in France, in the Department of Finistere 

 during the Pont-Croix surveys; 

 from numerous families; 

 from the Criminal Records Office; 



/"/; Senegal from the Tendankes in the Kedou- 

 gou region (East Senegal). 



The material collected during the Pont-Croix 

 surveys relates to more than a thousand subjects 

 from among the 3800 inhabitants of a highly 

 endogamous community, which, for two years, 

 has been the subject of a multi-survey in the 

 demographic, genealogical, ethnological and 

 anthropobiological fields. 



The material collected from families includes 

 several hundreds of subjects belonging to 2, 3 or 

 4 generations. 



The material from the Criminal Records 

 Office relates to 8000 offenders charged in 

 Paris, classified according to their ethnic origin. 



The material from Senegal covers the larger 

 part of a small isolate of some 900 inhabitants. 



The material is now being studied and some of 

 the results will be presented to the Congress by 

 Miss de Lestrange, Miss Pee-Laborde and Mr. 

 Luu. Other studies are being conducted to 

 evaluate genetical, statistical and anthropological 

 evidence from these fingerprints. 



Patients of the State Schools of Brandon, 

 Vermont, U.S.A., and Laconia, New Hampshire, 

 U.S.A., numbering approximately 1500 were 

 examined. Several patients have been found to 

 display unusual dermatoglyphic patterns in 

 that they possess an abnormally low ridge count, 

 as a result of very vestigial patterns on the 

 fingers. This finding was associated with chromo- 

 somal abnormalities, not all of which could be 

 definitely established in a specific group or 

 number. All of these patients upon detailed 

 cytogenetic and clinical examination turned out 

 to belong to the group classified as "Undifferen- 

 tiated Mental Deficiency". 



The authors believe that the dermatoglyphic 

 trait of an extremely low total ridge count may 

 be used as a screening device for ascertaining 

 undifferentiated mental deficiency. This tech- 

 nique does not pick up other conditions. 



Detailed studies will be reported upon all 

 patients of undifferentiated mental deficiency. 

 Patients with other conditions such as Turner's 

 Syndrome, Klinefelter's Syndrome, Phenylketo- 

 nuria, etc., are also being investigated. 



17.7. Study of the Palmar Flexion Creases. 



Marie-Therese de Lestrange (Paris, France). 



Genealogical study carried out in French 

 families, certain members of which have par- 

 ticular configurations of creases. 



17.8. Multivariate Analysis in the Study of Dermato- 

 glyphics and its Application to the Study of the 

 Fingerprints of 7000 French Offenders (Symme- 

 try, Correlations and Structure). Luu Mau 



Thanh (Paris, France). 



The study of finger prints according to form 

 gives rise, generally speaking, to particular 

 difficulties common to all qualitative characteris- 

 tics. 



Various methods provide estimations, for the 

 most part unprecise, of correlations between the 

 different fingers. From canonical analysis, 

 quantitative values can be given to different 



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