Evening star., 1939-06-27
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
A basic mechanism of evolution which
saves species from extinction, but, in an
eventually losing struggle, was explained
to the American Association for the
Advancement of Sciences at Milwaukee
last week by Dr. A. H. Sturtevant of the
California Institute OF Technology.
Experimenting with fruit flies in the
California laboratory, he found that
mutations, or sudden appearance Of new
characters, were much more common
when races were crossed than when no
new blood was introduced. Mutations,
DR.. Sturtevant said, are the raw mate
rials of evolution, yet there is some sort
of mechanism at work in every species
to prevent them from taking place.
The result is that a race tends to
become fixed in form and habits. This
physiological conservatism is bound to
result in extinction when the conditions
change for which the organism is best
adapted. The introduction of new blood
seems to inhibit the action of the muta-
ton preventing mechanism. A multi
plicity of new characters appear in the
offspring, many Of them fatal but some
of marked benefit.
Mutations hitherto have been pro-
duced by X-rays, ultraviolet light, heat
and few other physical agents, but
biologists have realized that these cannot
be the factors causing changes in nature
The introduction of new blood into a
herd, DR.. Sturtevant said, long has been
practiced by stock breeders from time to
time without any rational reason until
the present experiments.
While DR.. Sturtevant did not extend
his conclusions from fruit flies to man,
the fundamental laws of genetics are
believed to extend throughout the whole
realm OF life. Hence the results with
fruit flies indicate the suicidal trend Of
racial purity theories such as now are
stressed in Germany.
1t has long been known, geneticists
explained, that human genius has been
most frequent in borderland areas where
similar but not homogeneous strains in
termarried freely.
Excavation of 10 ancient habitation
sites in the region of Northwestern Ala
bama to be covered by the 10O-square-
mile Wheeler Lake of the Tennessee
Valley Authority, due to the building of
the Wheeler Dam across the Tennessee
River above Muscle Shoals, has been
carried out under the direction of Mai.
William S. Webb, senior archeologist of
the Authority.
The report OF this work preserving for
all time the outlines of the ancient his
tory Of the region which otherwise would
have been completely erased, has lust
been published as bulletin of the Bu-
reau OF American Ethnology of the
Smithsonian Institution The work was
In line with the policy Of the Tennessee
Valley Authority to destroy nothing of
archaeological value until opportunity is
afforded for a comprehensive study.
There was wealth Of material. At
one place, for example, refuse from the
kitchens OF the ancient inhabitants
reaches OF depth of more than feet over
an area OF nearly two acres. Other
examples are the shell mounds composed
OF shells, animal bones, fish remains.
artifacts and broken bits of pottery and
occasional human bones. Mounds Of
this type are often as much as 300 feet
wide, 600 feet long and IS to 20 feet
high. Such deposits have from 10000
to 100000 cubic yards of material, COM
posed almost altogether of the leftovers
from primitive kitchens.
Altogether 237 former habitation sites
were located in preliminary survey by
the Alabama State geologist, but it was
impossible to carry on excavations at
more than few of the more promising
ones. Similar work was carried out
earlier in the Norris Basin. The great
tennessee River must have been essen
TALLY from the beginning of human
occupation OF this part of the country,
one OF the great highways of primitive
man. He was naturally attracted to the
area, and the findings of the survey are
likely to fill an important place in the
pattern OF American prehistory.
At the time Of the earliest white ex-
plorations this area, one of the richest
on the continent, appears to have been
essentially uninhabited
This, paradoxically enough, was be-
cause OF its great resources. Bands of
Cherokee from the East, Chickasaw from
the South and Iroquois from the North
hunted over it. All three were powerful
tribes and none of them seems to have
been willing to risk major conflict with
any OF the Others Consequently. the
land had the status of a common hunting
territory.
The earliest settlements recorded his
torlcally are those of the Shawnee. These
mysterious Algonquin people were the
outcasts and wanderers of the Indian
race in the East. Their remains are
found scattered from Ohio to Georgia.
Their hands were against all other tribes
and all the others were against them.
Their settlements appear to have been
OF short duration, as they came into
conflict with Cherokee and Chickasaw.
Within Colonial times, both of these
tribes broke into the area with semi
permanent settlements, for they were
already in death grip with the ex-
panding white colonization.
The real story of the region is entirely
prehistoric. The rich lands along the
water courses, the excavations show. had
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