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On the Racial Distribution of Some Agglutinable Structures of Human Blood

From the Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York

Abstract

There are recorded in the literature some attempts to make a serological distinction of races with the methods that had proved successful in the differentiation of species. One may state that these efforts have not led to quite definite results. The claim of Bruck (1) that the sera of Caucasians, Chinese and Malays can be distinguished by means of complement fixation tests could not be confirmed by later workers.¹ Marshall and Teague (6) observed some differences in similar tests but in their opinion the data are not so clear cut as to permit of a practical application. Negative results were obtained by Fitzgerald (7) who feels justified in concluding that with the method employed "the existence of specific racial differences ... has not been proven." Taking into account the difficulty of distinguishing the sera of closely related species, e.g., man and chimpanzee (Nuttal (8)), one would scarcely expect a more favorable outcome without resorting to very sensitive methods.

Footnotes

¹ In view of the findings of Schiff (2), Dölter (3), Witebsky and Okabe (4), and others, on group specific substance in human sera related to the isoagglutinogens of the red cells, one has to consider the possibility that differences in precipitin reactions within a species may be dependent upon non-protein substances (cf. Friedberger and Lasnitzki (5)).