Jusqu'à nos jours, la connaissance de la population humaine est toujours résultée d'une double recherche, à savoir: la recherche bio-typologique, développée par l'anthropologie, et l'analyse mathématique de certaines données statistiques effectuée par la démographie.

Deux recherches, deux sciences, mais surtout deux niveaux de connaissance: en effet, bien que détachée du plan immédiat de la recherche physiologique, la démographie embrasse les aspects fonctionnels de l'espèce humaine, tels que la naissance, la mort, la fécondité, etc., alors que l'anthropologie est plus particulièrement une entreprise morphologique.

Il y a quelques années, les résultats somatiques de l'anthropologie, et les résultats dynamiques de la démographie, étaient en quelque sorte contaminés par le racisme. Le danger de cette contamination était d'autant plus grave qu'il concernait également des secteurs situés au dehors de la science, comme par exemple celui de la politique. En effet, sans même mentionner les conséquences pratiques dérivant des principes, le racisme a soulevé, du point de vue scientifique, une véritable confusion.

En ce qui concerne la population humaine, un niveau de connaissance, sérieux et nouveau, apparaît aujourd'hui sous les termes de «génétique de la population» ou «génétique démologique» ou «démogénétique»

1. A highly significant association exists between dark pigmentation and patterns in the second interdigital palmer area among populations of mixed Negro-White ancestry, both in northern Sudan and in the United States.

2. No significant associations were observed between pigmentation and ABO blood groups, tasting ability and pigmentation, blood groups and tasting ability, palm patterns and blood groups, or tasting ability and palm patterns.

3. The relatively high association between pigmentation and second-interdigital palmar patterns suggests linkage between some of the genes conditioning these two traits.

1. Il problema dell'influenza che le condizioni ambientali esercitano sugli esseri viventi è sempre attuale — e non soltanto in biologia — come dimostra la continua apparizione di opere dedicate all'argomento.

In campo biologico tali studi si sono rivolti particolarmente al tema dell'adattamento funzionale, con risultati di innegabile portata. Non altrettanto soddisfacenti si possono ritenere quelli riguardanti l'adattamento strutturale, in quanto il moderno sviluppo della genetica aveva portato a considerare del tutto priva di fondamento la teoria lamarckiana dell'ereditarietà dei caratteri acquisiti, nonostante le evidenti difficoltà logiche incontrate nel giustificare — pur facendo appello al meccanismo mutazionistico — l'evoluzione della specie.

Un largo processo di revisione di tale atteggiamento sembra oggi in corso, da una parte perché più frequenti si sono fatti i richiami alle questioni di ordine generale e dal-l'altra per l'affiorare, attraverso la sperimentazione, di fatti nuovi i quali hanno indotto a giudicare i fenomeni ereditari molto più complessi di quanto non potevano apparire a prima vista.

Non sembra, quindi, fuor di luogo un rapido esame dei punti fondamentali del problema, alla luce di teorie antiche e recenti e dei più significativi risultati delle ricerche sperimentali postbelliche.

2. Un sistema isolato, se è teoricamente concepibile, non trova effettivo riscontro in natura. Ogni sistema reale appare, infatti, in relazione più o meno stretta con altri sistemi e la sua conservazione dipende, in ogni momento, dal mantenimento di una certa armonia con questi.

The Author reports a case of xifodimus tetrabrachius born in March, 1954, in the Hospital at Vipiteno (Italy) and, in the discussion, points out the improvement the case can bring about in the knowledge of double faetal malformations, their classification, their causes and their mechanism.

The mother had had a previous case of twin pregnancy.

Già da tempo il sangue dei gemelli è stato studiato dal punto di vista biometrico ed in particolare dal punto di vista eritrocitometrico (Glatzel 1931, Ostertag 1935).

Siamo tornati sull'argomento délla comparazione delle misure eritrocitometriche di coppie di gemelli perché convinti della grande importanza teorica e pratica di questo studio, tanto dal punto di vista strettamente genetico, quanto dal punto di vista medico, dati i ben noti vantaggi del metodo comparativo gemellare.

Le misurazioni vennero eseguite con un microscopio universale Galileo, direttamente sull'immagine reale proiettata su di uno schermo di vetro smerigliato 16 × 18. L'obbiettivo impiegato fu un 99 × e il tiraggio dello specchio proiettore venne aggiustato fino ad ottenere i 2000 ingrandimenti esatti, tarati con un vetrino micrometrico. I preparati furono dei comuni strisci a strato rigorosamente monoglobulare, colorati con May-Grunwald-Giemsa. La colorazione venne spinta un poco oltre i tempi comunemente usati, per ottenere una maggiore nitidezza di contorni nella proiezione dei globuli rossi.

Le misurazioni vennero direttamente eseguite sulla lastra di vetro smerigliato, mediante un regolo millimetrato trasparente.

Con detta tecnica, risultando un micron delle dimensioni di 2 millimetri, riescì esatta la misurazione di mezzo micron e discretamente approssimata quella del quarto di micron.

The symbols for trie 4 allelic M-N-S genes in common use, namely, MS, Ms, NS, and Ns, are satisfactory only if one subscribes to the theory of linked gene couplets, but not for those who, like the present author, believe that the theory of multiple alleles is valid. Therefore, it is proposed to designate the 4 allelic genes by the symbols Ls, L ls and l, respectively. These symbols are easy to learn and to use, if one bears in mind that L stands for the presence of blood factor M in the corresponding agglutinogen, and l for the presence of blood factor N. Similarly the letter S in the superscript stands for the presence of blood factor S in the corresponding agglutinogen, while the absence of any superscript denotes the presence of blood factor s. It is unnecessary to change the names of the phenotypes. This is fortunate, since duplication of nomenclature is avoided, such as exists unnecessarily in the case of the Rh-Hr types. The purpose of a phenotype name is to identify and not to provide a full description, or to indicate the genetic mechanism. For this reason, the phenotype designations of the M-N-S types should be the same, regardless of the genetic theory to which one subscribes.

The practicability of the new gene symbols for the M-N-S types is demonstrated by applying them to a sample mating. A simple method of estimating the frequencies of the 4 allelic M-N-S genes is also described. These formulae are applied to Boyd's data on the distribution of the M-N-S types among 230 Bengalis. The results obtained do not differ significantly from those obtained by the more complex maximum likelihood method. Since the maximum likelihood method does not improve the accuracy of the estimates, the additional effort and skill which is required are wasted. The simple formulae proposed here yield results which fulfill all the requirements of anthropologists and geneticists.

Till to-day there are very few concordant and discordant twin pairs known with regard to chondrodysplasy. We describe here a family in which as well the mother as also her both twin daughters are affected with this disturbance of development. The monozygosity of the sisters is beyond all doubt.

This paper is based on 45 cases in 27 families, all of which have been studied in Children Hospitals. In Switzerland almost all cases of infantile amaurotic idiocy (Tay-Sachs) have probably been collected, so that the stated 13 primary and 14 secondary cases may allow an estimation of the frequency of this character, which seems to oscillate temporarily. In the last 10 years no new cases have been observed.

All 24 autochthonus Swiss cases are from non-Jewish, mostly rural origin, in which Eastern Jews are not to be supposed as ascendants.

Our in all 27 families with TS make Slome's statistic of Jewish and non-Jewish cases in literature much more significant; the incidence of parental consanguinity is, as a matter of fact, nearly twice as high in families with non-Jewish origin.

There is no evidence of a milder and longer course of TS in non-Jewish families.

The mode of inheritance is, according to Slome, monohybrid autosomal recessive, though in remarkably many sibships there is an accumulation of cases. The reduction method, however, gives a percentage of 28,3 ± 6,2, coming quite near to the expectation of the Mendelian quarter.

The penetrance of the character is total, the expressivity generally very equal, with only a few deviations from the well—known clinical picture of TS.

The interfamiliar and intrafamiliar variability therefore is small. In not even one of the families studied have there been found other forms of lipoidosis, principally no cases of splenohepatomegalia Niemann-Pick. All available respective cases in Switzerland have been collected by the present author and will soon be published in these Acta. In none of these families with M. Niemann-Pick have cases of M. Tay-Sachs been seen. This fact is liable to prove that these clinically and anatomically very similar conditions derive from independent i. e. different mutations.

Modifying genes may account for the incidence of sibships in which all or almost all children died from M. TS.

Environmental influences do not seem to favour its manifestations.

If in the newer literature from the U.S.A. the Jewish cases of M. TS are still prevalent and if, as we heard, the concomitant manifestations occur fairly often in Israel, the origin may be sought in one at least 200 years old respective mutation in the Jewish population of a relatively restricted White-Russian era.

The authors describe a new case of degenerative nanism « typus amstelodamensis », which shows all fundamental characteristics of the syndrome. From the hormonic research, which was carried through for the first time, resulted normal values (for the age of patient); this fact proves the fundamental normality of the endocrine system, which was already found by De Lange in the anatomical-pathological field.

Moreover, the genealogical examination led for the first time to the assumption of the existence of a genetic factor causing this particular type of a multiple degeneration.