Evening star., 1948-10-06
Stars, Men and Atoms
Dinuric Race of Balkans
May Be Nonexistent
Report to Anthropolosists Discounts
Theory of Fourth Basic White Type


Report to Anthropolosists Discounts
Theory of Fourth Basic White Type
By Thomas r. Henry
One of the hitherto postulated four basic
types Of the white race-the so-caled Dinario
race OF the Balkans-may be nonexistent.
This is the conclusion of Drs. Carleton q.
Coon of Harvard University and Robert w.
Enrich of Brooklyn College in report to the
American Society of Physical Anthropologists.
Such a view promises to leave only three basic
types in Europe-the blond. long headed Nor
dies of the north the dark, long -headed Medi-
terraneans of the south, and the round -headed
Alpines of the east.
The Dinaric peoples ostensibly vary from the
other types by having extremely round heads
which often show flattening at the back. Drs
Coon and Enrich have been among the fore.
most authorities on the supposed race. The
former has made extensive studies and meas
urements in North Albania and the latter in
Montenegro. There was every reason to sup
pose that the head shape was hereditary and
fundamental.
Distorted in Grading.
1t now has been found, however that the
Armenian peoples of the Near East, quite typ.
ical Dinaric types, lose the characteristic shape
after a couple of generations in the United
States This it is believed Is because the
immigrants abandon the native custom OF
grading their babies, which apparently dis
torts the head form. The children grow up
with long heads and with no signs of skull
f1attening.
Hitherto anthropologists have been inclined
to attribute the fattened heads of the Dinarics
to disharmony resulting from the interbreed-
ing of long headed and short-headed peoples.
This might have come from thousands of gen.
erations of contact between long headed Med
iterraneans and short-headed Alpines.
The findings with respect to immigrants have
led Drs. Coon and Enrich to revise all their
reports They are not yet ready to give up en-
tirely the possibility that the Balkan peoples
constitute a separate division of the white race,
but admit the new evidence is strongly sug-
gestive.
It would now seem that the "Dinarics" are.
at the most only somewhat divergent Mediter-
raneans of the same basic type as Spaniards
and Italians with, perhaps, considerable mix
ture of Alpine from their Russian neighbors to
the north.
Hemophilia. the bleeding disease" Of de-
scendants of Queen Victoria, now has been
eliminated from the British royal family.
This is the conclusion just reported to the
American Genetic Association here by DR..
Hugo ntis, director of the Mendel Museum at
Fredericksburg, Va, and one of the worlds
foremost authorities on human heredity, after
an intensive study of the genetic background Of
Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.
both of whom are great-great-grandchildre
Of the afflicted queen.
The disease, failure of the clotting ee-
ments in the blood, is hereditary through the
female line although 1t occurs only in males.
That is, the daughters of victim will transmit
it to their sons, perhaps for many generations.
Source of Malady.
Presumably the malignant hereditary mecha-
nism came to Victoria from some unknown
source in her own ancestry. At least one OF
her four sons was a bleeder and two, possibly
three, of her five daughters were carriers.
Thence came the malady in the Russian, Span.
ish and possibly German royal families.
Princess Elizabeth, Or. Iltis points out, cer-
tainly is not carrier Of the malady. She is
the at-granddaughter of Edward the Sew
enth, one of Victoria's three sons who es-
capped the dread inheritance. Edward could
not pass it on to his grandchildren through
his daughters.
At first glance however, the situation might
seem more serious with respect to Prince Philip
Mountbatten, her husband. He is the great
grandson of Victoria's daughter, Princess Alice
of Hesse She was one of the carriers. One Of
her sons was beeder and two of her daugh-
ters were carriers. These were Queen Irene Of
Prussia and the Czarina Alexandra of Russia.
Cannot Garry Gene.
Says DR.. Iltis: "since Philips relationship
ia Queen Victoria is through the female line
there might appear to be possibility Of trans
mission through him. But Philip himself an
swers this apprehension. Since he Is not hemo-
philic he cannot carry the gene. There is,
therefore, no danger whatsoever that the fate
full gene will be carried into the next genera
ton through this marriage"
Since the Russian royal family presumably
Is extinct the source Of this disease in Euro
pean royalty may be considered practically
eliminated except possibly among descendants
of the late King Alfonso of Spain. The young
est of Victoria's sons, Leopold, Duke of Albany.
was hemophiliac. His son, Duke Of Sachsen-
Coburg, escaped. The last heard of him was
as one of Hitlers "obergruppenfuehrers
which may be considered the end of the line.
Leopold's daughter was carrier but her only
child, son, lost his life from bleeding to death
after a minor accident.