3o6 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



BLOOD GROUPS. 



Report of Committee on the Blood Grouping of Primitive Peoples (Prof. 

 H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., Chairman ; Prof. R. Ruggles Gates, F.R.S., 

 Secretary ; Dr. J. H. Hutton, C.I.E., Mr. R. U. Sayce). 



During the past year progress has been made in blood grouping various 

 primitive peoples, especially in Canada, India, Tibet and Kenya. Serum 

 for testing the Eskimos was sent to a Canadian Government expedition two 

 years ago, and from a radio message recently received at Ottawa it appears that 

 185 Eskimos belonging to several tribes west of Hudson Bay, including the 

 Caribou Eskimos, show a very high percentage of B. This unexpected 

 result can only be interpreted when the full data are received. In September 

 1935, 98 Micmac children were tested in an Indian school at Shubenacadie, 

 Nova Scotia, and Prof. Ralph P. Smith has recently tested 100 Micmacs, 

 chiefly adults, at the Whycocomagh Reserve in Cape Breton Island and 

 67 at the Barra Head Reservation. These three sets of tests appear to be 

 comparable and a full account will be published later. Arrangements 

 have also been made for blood grouping the Ojibway and Iroquois Indians 

 at various reservations in Ontario and Quebec. 



In Kenya serum has been sent to Dr. J. W. Vint of Nairobi, who is 

 typing various native tribes, but the results are not yet complete. 



A short paper on Tibetans has been published {Man, p. 147, 1936) 

 giving the results of testing 187 natives chiefly of Gyantse. The results, 

 14-9 per cent. O, 47-1 per cent. A, 13-9 per cent. B, 24-1 per cent. AB, 

 are of extraordinary interest as they show a higher percentage of AB com- 

 bined with a lower percentage of O than almost any other racial group. 

 This is especially significant when contrasted with the American Indians, 

 which the Tibetans resemble in some respects. 



In India Mr. A. Aiyappan has carried out tests of the pre-Dravidian 

 Paniyans of Wynaard, which show 20 per cent. O, 62-4 per cent. A, 7-6 per 

 cent. B, 10 per cent. AB. The very high percentage of A is in marked 

 contrast to the Hindoos and confirms the relationship of these pre-Dravidian 

 people to the Australian aborigines. A short account of this work is in the 

 press for Man. Sera for all the Indian work have kindly been donated by 

 the Haffkine Institute of Bombay, whose sera were first tested with samples 

 sent from England and found to be the same. Dr. Eileen W. Macfarlane 

 has tested various groups in Cochin, South India, including Dravidians, 

 pre-Dravidians, Syrian Christians and the so-called White Jews and Black 

 Jews. These tests are being combined with anthropometric measurements, 

 which will add much to their value. A full report is being prepared, and a 

 preliminary note had been published {Current Science, vol. 4, p. 653, 1936). 

 The White Jews of Cochin number scarcely a hundred. The fifty adults 

 typed gave 18 per cent. O, 62 per cent. A, 20 per cent. B. The Black Jews 

 number about 800, of which 106 were tested, giving 73-6 per cent. O, 

 10-4 per cent. A, 16 per cent. B. In such small communities inbreeding 

 probably has an important effect in producing aberrant blood group 

 percentages. 



In the Naga Hills, Assam, blood grouping tests are being made by Dr. 

 C. Vieyra and Dr. S. S. Kundu, and the results are being correlated with 

 racial and language studies by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. J. P. Mills. 

 At Srinagar, Kashmir, Dr. James Flower has taken up blood grouping tests 

 in addition to anthropometric measurements on the peoples in this region. 



