Evening star., 1941-08-16
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory. Field
And Study
Bu Thomas r. Henri

By Thomas r. Henry.
Snow Whites seven dwarfs were
achondroplasiacs, exaggerated exam
Piles of a wierd hereditary disease most
common in Scandinavia.
The condition is the subject of an
extensive report just made to the
American Genetic Association by DR..
Ernst T. Morch of the Institute for
Human Genetics of Copenhagen. DR..
Morch sought out all the achondroplas-
lac families in Denmark and Norway in
his study.
The little men of the fairy tale are
not actually dWarfS, but gnomeS or ko-
holds, creatures of Germanic mythology,
and old woodcuts of them leave little
doubt that the concept came from ac-
tual human beings. A strong hereditary
strain of achondroplasia seems to have
existed since time immemorial in the
Scandinavian branch of the Nordic race.
The living victim is described by Dr.
Morch as a person Of dwarf growth
about IS inches for men and 81 for
women-with a large head and promi-
ncIlJ DloW. lie IoOL Ol Ine nose Is
shrunken. There Is a high palate and
short legs. Both of the leg bones are
shorter than normal. The arms are
very short. The fingers are short and
all of about the same length. There is
defective extension of the elbow Joint,
very bowed legs. waddling gait, short
and broad feet and a straight spine"
There can be no doubt that the con-
dition which is present at birth is hered-
itary, DR.. Morch says, and his researches
show that 1t is what geneticsts call
simple dominant" in families. The
rareness of achondroplasiacs is due
largely to the fact that such persons
rarely marry and have children.
DR.. Morch, however, found that there
were isolated cases for which no family
history of the condition could be discoy-
cred in spite Of excellent records. The
probability, he holds, is that it is rising
continually in the Scandinavian stock
as mutation" or change in hereditary
constitution. Thus there is constant
renewal of the type.
That these mutations should be al
most specific to Scandinavia may be due
to some popularity in the environment
or to susceptibility in the stock itself
AT present achondroplasiacs, who are
usually short-lived are able to make
good livings as circus and stage per-
formers. In the distant past most of
them would have perished early and any
hereditary strain ended had they not
been able to create an atmosphere of the
supernatural about themselves. They
often are fairly intelligent.
Some geneticists have thought. DR.
Morch points out, that the dachshund
may be the example of a permanently
established achondroplasiac race in dogs
closely analogous to race which might
arise among humans if victims of this
wierd disease freely reproduced their
kind. This is questionable. he holds.
but the condition occasionally appears
In other animals. 1t has been described
In fowls. 1t also is found in a breed of
cattle known as Dexters. The normal
animals are quite short legged.
Several types of dwarfs are known
which are due to pituitary gland de-
hciencies. Achondroplasia, however.
does not appear to be glandular in ORR
gin, but is defect of the whole mvste-
rlous mechanism of prenatal develop
ment.
An acid test of heredity versus en-
vironment in human development is af-
forded by an intensive study of the four
Key sisters of Oklahoma, Just reported
to the Journal of Heredity here by Dr.
Iva c. Gardner of Baylor University and
DR.. H. H. Newman of the University of
Chicago
The sisters are quadruplets, born in
1915. They grew up together in a good
home environment and graduated from
college together in 1887. Two were
Identical twins. They had precisely the
same heredity. The other two were or
dinary twins, into whose makeup quite
different hereditary factors might have
entered.
The present study was based largely on
their college life, the courses they took
and the marks they received, and the
records of the four on various intelli-
gence and personality tests. Through
out the four years the identical twins
remained very close together in every
respect and there was no tendency for
them to draw apart. On the other
hand, with similar studies and an es-
sentially identical environment the two
ordinary twin members of the quadruplet
set showed no tendency to become more
like the others.
The study" DR.. Newman says. Lends
support to the view that when several
individuals OF twin relationship are
reared together in a common environ
ment, their hereditary differences per-
sist. Even the strong group unity char
acteristic of quadruplets has not made
them more similar than had they been
an ordinary group of sisters"
Thinks Americans
Should Re SkenticaI of EnoJond