The AA. have studied the characteristical steps of the first and permanent dentition on 408 twin pairs (156 MZ and 252 DZ). These phenomena appear to be significantly genetically controlled. According to the AA., the hereditary units might possess a characteristic potential time span, which is a function of an energetic genetically conditioned charge. This parameter of the hereditary unit is called Chronon.

The Authors report on the steps involved in the computerization (coding of data, card punching and tape recording) of a Twin Register initiated in 1942 and currently approaching 11,000 cases of multiple births.

The Register is permanent in that it involves continued updating of information and addition of new cases. It includes twins of any age, sex, zygosity and health condition.

The experience gained in the reported project can be usefully shared in wiew of international cooperation and standardization.

Scurvy, now regarded as a nutritional disorder due to the lack of the trace food constituent, vitamin C, is shown to be the end result of a typical genetic disease. This genetic disease syndrome has been named Hypoascorbemia. Its primary cause is the hereditary lack of — or defect in — the gene controlling the synthesis of the enzyme, L-gulonolactone oxidase. This is a mammalian liver enzyme, the last one in the series for converting glucose into ascorbic acid. Man is one of the few mammals that lacks this enzyme and hence is unable to sythesize his own ascorbic acid. The gene defect occurred during the course of evolution by a conditional lethal mutation. The replacement of the present vitamin C theory regarding the etiology of scurvy by this genetic concept gives important new viewpoints to the quantitative aspects of ascorbic acid in human physiology and also provides new rationales for the use of high levels of ascorbic acid in normal physiology and in the therapy of clinical entities other than scurvy.

Three familial cases of epibulbar dermoids, associated with lid ptosis, antimongoloid aspect of the palpebral fissure and nasal lobuloschisis are reported.

The hereditary character of this malformation is interpreted in terms of polimery.

1. Sex-linked type of defective colour vision among 608 unrelated students, including 251 males and 357 females belonging to different communities residing in Madhya Pradesh of India, was investigated. Males were found to have 3.19% defective colour vision; again, of the defectives the deutans were found to be exactly three times greater than the protans. Significantly, none of the females was colourblind.

2. Brahmin of Madhya Pradesh displayed a comparatively low value of abnormal incidence being 2.88% among the other Brahmin samples. The occurrence of green-blind was found to be a little more than double of the red-blind in the sample, χ2 test for significance in respect of the total incidence of colour-blindness in various samples of Brahmin shows no heterogeneity (P>0.05). But, when certain Brahmin samples having a common origin are combined, some significant differences are brought out showing a clear statistical heterogeneity (P<0.02).

Clinical and chromosomal studies of a case of gonadal dysgenesis. The patient presented primary amenorrhea, rudimentary uterus, ipoplastic tubes and gonadad streak. No Barr bodies or drumsticks were found, and the chromosome analysis revealed a mosaic of the type XO/X + centric fragment. The pertinent literature is reviewed, and attention is drawn to the possible existence of a secretion of the steroid type in the Leydig-like cells present in the gonadal streak.

The Authors report on a case of congenital anorchidism, confirmed by laparatomy, with negative sexual chromatin and an XY karyotype. One of his two sisters, with primary amenorrhea, presented marked hypoplasia of the genital tract, positive sexual chromatin and in 3% of the cells with 2 chromatine corpuscles, XO/XX/XXX karyotype. The presence in the same family of two cases of gonadal dysgenesis appears to have occurred by mere chance.

A case of a female newborn, followed up to the 9th month of life, presenting a clinical picture of multiple malformations, typical of trisomy-18, is reported by the AA.: microcephaly, low set of ears, micrognaty, ogival palate, superabunding skin in the neck, simian crease, typical hands attitude, luxation of the right hip, severe neurological symptomatology with the characteristic rigidity and, finally, an extremely severe mental defect.

Growth has always been very poor; death occurred at the 9th month of life.

Chromosome research, done with two cultures of capillary blood, revealed the presence of two lines of normal and trisomy-18 cells in similar percentage.

The literature concerning the subject is examined and discussed.

Blood samples from five hundred and ninety five individuals belonging to Indore district of west Madhya Pradesh were tested for ABO blood groups, and two hundred and ninety three of them were tested for the sickle-cell trait.

The investigated groups include: the Kadve Kulmi, the Khati, the Rami Mali, the Balai, the Bhil and a mixed sample of various castes. The aforesaid groups, within the district, are found to be homogeneous, as far as the ABO blood groups distributions are concerned. Frequencies for the O, A and B genes have been found to be 0.5251, 0.1587 and 0.3162, respectively, in the pooled data.

Sickle-cell trait has been detected in the Balai, the Charmakar or Chamar and the Bhil.

Genetics in the Soviet Union has undergone a profound and long crisis, involving the realm of Biological Sciences and Science and Culture as a whole.

This was not merely due to the emergence of neo-Lamarckian Michurinism, claiming the inheritance of acquired characters to be possible and necessary, and the genotype to be plastic and shakable, especially under particular environmental and physiological conditions: this could have been the object of scientific discussions, probably of a controversy, too, just as one century ago, but would have hardly involved matters of principle and of method in Scientific Research, nor would the controversy have degenerated, absurdly giving rise to a “ Western ” and a “ Soviet Science ”.

Two closely connected factors, equally important and equally witnessing a reject of the principles underlying the scientific method, may be considered as the actual source of this partition of Science, namely:

i) The assumption of a primacy of Ideology, thus making Science be submitted to it, and scientific theories be held right or wrong, according to their fitting or not ideological ones;

ii) Violent political pressures and administrative coercion on scientific thought, and on scientists themselves.

Along with such matters of principle, matters of method in research planning and the formulation of results made it impossible to reach a plain evaluation of Lysenko's theories and results.

Now that a normal athmosphere appears to have been re-established for the development of genetic research in the Soviet Union, rejecting, or ignoring the whole of Lysenko's work, could prove just as wrong as Lysenko's reject of Classic Genetics.