Evening star., 1924-08-10
CLOSE STUDY MADE
OF WHITE INDIANS
British Scientists Believe
They May Result From
Lost Nordic Expedition.
BY WATSON DAVIS.


TORONTO, Ontario, August 9.-The
white Indians of Panama, discovered
by Richard o. Marsh, are nor for
mauy on the program of the British
Association for the Advancement of
science, meeting here, but a small
group of American and English an
thropologists and ethnologistis heard
a detailed report by Mr.. Marsh on
this strange race, it was learned to-
day.
The unanimous verdict of the
scientists here is that this strange
people present situation of great
medical as well as anthropological
interest.
With respect to the cause and
origin OF this light-hued race, the de-
clsion is far from unanimous These
are the most prominent explanations:
Due to Disease.
First, the so-called white Indians
are suffering from some physiological
disturbance which has caused their
lack of pigmentation. Perhaps this is
some obscure tropical disease. due to
a dietary factor; perhaps it is due to
an endoctrine disturbance inherited
like many other human characters
and defects Cretinism, due to lack
of thyroid secretion, is prevalent in
switzerland in certain area, being Il
HEREDITARY trait. The adrenal glands
are known to have an influence on
pigmentation of the skin.
Second. the white Indians are a
type of Albino. This view is not in
compatible with the first, although
on account of their yellow hair, hazel
N nITOly
consider the white Indians cannot be
true Albinos.
Third. The white Indians are the
result of mixture of Nordic and In
dian blood. Early legendary accounts
of pre-Columbian expeditions of Eu-
that of some Welsh in 1107, are re-
called. The mixture of white and
Indian blood should produce dark
people, just as it has in other parts
of south America, however. This is
not the case. About 400 white In
dians were seen by Mr.. Marshs expe-
dition and over a thousand are be-
lieved to exist in the hidden parts Of
mountainous Darien, and they are all
of the same appearance. Moreover,
Indian parents have white children
and Mr.. Marsh has both parents and
children in this country.
May Be Mutation
are the white lnuldHS IIlu-
tations or sports giving rise to a new
sort of white race and duplicating
to a degree the operation of evolu-
tion that gave rise to the present
white race? This is another idea
that presupposes that, as some an
thropologists believe, the white race
arose from dark pigmented forbears.
DR.. Ales Hrdlicka of the Smith
sonian Institution was among those
anthropologistS who declared that
Mr.. Marsh's discovery deserves the
most thorough scientific investiga-
tion.
Mr.. Marsh announced his intention
of keeping the white Indian children
in this country and sending them to
school. The Indian parents will be
returned to Panama
Hope for those who are color blind
is held out by DR.. H. E. Roaf of the
London Hospital Medical School. He
suggested that a monocle of a proper
sort might enable the color-blind
wearer to distinguish between colors
like a normal person.
Cure for Color Blindness.
The usual tests for color blindness
consist in asking the subject to match
various, colors, and his ability is
judged by the accuracy with which he
makes the match. Those afflicted
with so-called "hypochromatic vision"
find it impossible to distinguish GER
tain shades, which are obviously diff
ferent to any one with perfect sight
Prof. Roaf has discovered, however,
that if the patient re-eXamines the
matches through a colored screen he
realizes his mistake at once in many
cases, and sets aside the combinat tions
which do not agree. This is the prin-
ciple of the proposed method of treat
ment.
1T is possible that if such an in
dividual wore a colored eyeglass over
one eye he might learn to recognize
the coluls like a normal person." DR..
Roaf S.; I'd. The spectacleS would not
correcl for the. error in vision auto
matically, but after becoming ac-
customed to the glasses, and, after
practice in separating tones by their
aid, the correction would probably be
made unconSciouslY in time