BLOOD-GROUPS AND RACE— MILLOT ^H 



as primitive. Starting with this prunary human blood, there would 

 have become differentiated the agglutinogen A in Europe, then the 

 agglutinogen B in Asia ; doubtless there would also have been a supple- 

 mentary mutation of A in the Far East, responsible for the Hunan 

 group. The supposition that group A is older than group B rests on 

 the fact that there are several races, such as the AustraUans, who have 

 group A but not group B, whilst none are known to have group B 

 without group A. Accordiug to this view, the fact that pure-blooded 

 Indians are all of group would prove that they became separated 

 from the Mongohan peoples before the appearance of any blood 

 mutation ; and the fact that group A but not group B occurs amongst 

 the AustraUans would be evidence of their having been isolated from 

 their stock during the period that elapsed between the two mutations. 



These views are strongly in favor at the moment. Prof. J. B. S. 

 Haldane expounded them eloquently in a discourse before the Royal 

 Institution some years ago.^ We must, however, face the fact that 

 they are largely hypothetical, and personally I can hardl}'^ admit 

 them. Why, for instance, should the Senegalese have 19 percent of 

 B, when they'^do|'not appear to have any trace of Mongolian ad- 

 mixture? One is driven to assume an independent mutation of B in 

 Africa, which merely complicates matters. But above all the fact 

 that human agglutinins and agglutinogens are found amongst the 

 anthropoid apes seems to us to have a very important bearing on the 

 problem, and to show in the clearest possible way that blood-groups 

 have existed for a very long time indeed. Their recent simultaneous 

 origin in monkeys and men is, in fact, most improbable; is it not more 

 natural to suppose that the common ancestors already possessed 

 agglutinogens? We will confine ourselves to saying, finally, that if a 

 character can appear by mutation, it can also disappear by the same 

 process; and it should be remembered that the majority of the muta- 

 tions observed in the course of animal-breeding are regressive, and 

 consist in the loss of a structure or of a differentiation, not in the 

 appearance of a new character. Is it not more satisfactory to regard 

 the Redskins, for example, as Mongoloids who have lost agglutinogen 

 B than to suppose that they left Asia before the appearance of the 

 mutation? 



We may conclude that, while the study of the reaction of agglu- 

 tination may not be able of itself to solve any anthropological prob- 

 lem, and while no complete racial classification can be founded upon 

 it so that up to a point it may have betrayed the somewhat fantastic 

 expectations aroused at the start, yet it does provide means of ap- 

 praisement which are of great interest, complementing and checking 

 those derived from other sources. No serious anthropological inquiry 

 can in future dispense with it. 



• See note at end. No. 1. 



