352 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



known, may become outdated. For instance, under the Code Civil, in 

 France at least, it was strictly laid down that only five types of evi- 

 dence could be admitted in an action for affiliation. Judges, however, 

 have become aware of the progress of research on blood groups and 

 more and more often call for evidence on that point, the importance 

 of which is increasing daily as the number of blood groups known to 

 us extends and the possibility of ruling out paternity becomes more 

 definite. 



The social implications of this development can clearly be seen. In 

 certain countries, such as Germany, affiliation does not entail the ob- 

 ligations imposed by French law. The child, for instance, does not 

 bear its father's name or have a claim to share in the inlieritance of 

 his estate. In France, on the other hand, a child thus recognized 

 enjoys all the rights of legitimate children. The extension of scientific 

 proofs may therefore have important social implications from the point 

 of view of the father or mother as well as from that of the child. 

 We have come across actions for affiliation in which two men claimed 

 to be the father of the same child. 



So far, blood groups have been used mainly to rule out the possibility 

 of a man's being the father of a child. That is the only case in which 

 the blood group provides definite proof. Research is proceeding so 

 fast, however, that it is to be expected that it will one day be possible 

 to state a presumption of paternity with a relatively small percentage 

 of error. Many young men will then have to reckon with the social 

 implications of such actions, and the laws may possibly have to be 

 altered as a result. 



The same development can be seen in the detection of other stains 

 of biological origin, such as semen, saliva, urine, and body fluids of all 

 sorts. One of the main difficulties confronting a scientific investigator 

 in the study of such stains is that of discovering them in the first 

 place. There was absolutely no means of detecting them with cer- 

 tainty on a thick, colored material until the Wood ultraviolet lamp, 

 with its nickel glass filter, made it easy to detect tlie fluorescence of 

 the stains and to carry out the necessary histological or chemical tests 

 on the stained portions only. The substances are later identified by 

 the classic techniques of histology, pathological anatomy, and im- 

 munology. 



These same methods may be applied to all animal and vegetable 

 remains (such as wood fragments, scraps of plants or seeds, pollen, 

 etc.) which may be discovered in dust. Every advance in these sciences 

 makes it easier to carry out this particularly difficult type of identifi- 

 cation. Even bacteriology may be called into play, and the following 

 case affords a typical example. 



After a big robbery, searches were made at the homes of various 

 suspect individuals and bank notes were seized from several of these 



