Evening star., 1935-06-18

Kings and Queens Of ancient Egypt,
1000 years in their royal tombs, soon
may be od-typed" to determine their
relationship to each other.
A method Of finding the blood type
from dried muscle, regardless of the
time the owner>has been dead, has been
worked out successfully with American
Indian. mummies several centuries old,
according to an announcement OF Drs.
L. c. Wyman and w. c. Boyd In the
Journal Of the American Anthropolog-
ical Society. They believe that the tech
nique will be just as applicable TO the
Egyptian mummies.
Human blood groupings, they explain.
are due to two extremely stable chem
ical substances, the nature CT which Is
unknown. which are found chiefly In
the red blood cells. Upon the basis OF
their blood clotting reactions they divide
the human race into four groupS-thoSe
possessing one or the other OF the agglu-
tinating chemicals themselves, those
with both and those with neither. There
are slight. but not very significant, racial
and geographic differences. The SUD-
stances are found In the blood Of all
races and even the manlike apes.
They are very hard to destroy by such
methods rs heating or drying. They
are found not only in the red blood cells.
but. in q lesser degree, throughout the
body. This fact renders them valuable
clues. The aggiutinating reaction OBJ
tanned from the dried saliva on the butt
of a smoked cigarette in one case re-
yealed the blood type Of the man who
had smoked 1t. Naturally, they AFFORD
valuable clues to anthropologists.
The two Boston University physicians
have worked out q special technique to
determine the blood group from the
dried tissue Of the mummies. 1t has
proved successful with about 200 Indian
cases. Since the laws Of blood type in
heritance are well established-so much
so that they are given standing by the
courts in cases OF disputed parentage-
it is expected that it win be possible to
identify at least some OF the long-deao
rulers and mobiles whose ancestry Is
known and the mummies OF whose par
ents are available.
When Edgar Allen Poe was q student
at the University of Virginia and passed
holidays tramping in the Blue Ridge
Mountains, the gloomy ravens percneo
on the ledges added much to the super
natural atmosphere of the remote hol-
lows which was absorbed by the young
poet.
within a few generations they had
been exterminated, or driven into the
Businesses of the Alleghanies to the west
ward. Now they are returning TO the
Blue Ridge. Five ravens have been
observed in these mountains within the
past year. according to Ruskin s. Freer
of Lynchburg College, who previously
had seen only one in nine years. Inc
first appearance Of ravens in the Blue
Ridge area was noted by Austin d.
Clark of the Smithsonian Institution Two
years ago.
The protection afforded by the Shen-
andoah National Park is believed 10 pc
one reason for their return. For the
past half century, ravens have Deen
quite rare In the Eastern United states,
although in Colonial days they were SO
common In New York and New Eng
land that bounties were placed on them
because of their attacks on sheep. Inc
raven was especially obnoxious to farm
ers because Of its attacks on lambs. IL
would pluck through their eyes into
their brains.