The Blood Groups of The Spanish Basques

THE BASQUES ARE A GROUP OF PEOPLE living in northern Spain and south-western France who differ from their neighbours in many physical and cultural features. The most conspicuous point of distinction is their language, which appears to be unrelated to any other European tongue. However, comparative philologists have shown a resemblance between the Basque language on the one hand and languages spoken by some populations in the northwest Caucasus on the other (Lafon 1933; Bouda I938; Holmer I947; Meillet & Cohen I952). Points of similarity between Basque and certain pre-Hamitic features of Berber languages have also been emphasized (Geze I883; Gabelentz 1894; Schuchardt I9I3; Meillet & Cohen 1952). In their blood groups also, the Basques differ considerably from all other European populations. They were first shown by Boyd & Boyd (I937) to have, like many other populations on the periphery of Europe, a rather high frequency of group 0, but also to have an exceptionally low frequency of group B; and Etcheverry (I945) showed them to have a frequency of Rh-negatives higher than any previously recorded. These findings have been repeatedly confirmed. The most extensive blood group survey undertaken with a wide range of antisera is that carried out by Chalmers, Ikin & Mourant (1948) who examined 383 persons of the purest available Basque ancestry, some born and resident in France, and others born in Spain but resident in France and England. The authors not only confirmed the exceptionally high frequency of Rh-negatives (or of the gene d) but in addition showed the frequency of the CDe chromosome to be high and that of cDE to be the lowest recorded in Europe. No systematic tests were done for the Du antigen. The Cw antigen appeared to be absent, but with only a weak antiserum available and in the absence of a comparable positive control, this result remained uncertain. Van der Heide, Magnee, Van Loghem & Souchard (I95I) subsequently found one Cwc heterozygote among i8i Basques tested, indicating a Cw frequency below that recorded for any other European community. In the discussion of their results Chalmers et al. pointed out that on genetical grounds it would appear that deaths from haemolytic disease were slowly lowering the frequency of the d gene in Europe. Such a lack of equilibrium must be transitory, but might be explained if the present population was the result of relatively recent mixing. It was suggested that the modern European population was the result of hybridization between the ancestors of the Basques, who had long been in Europe and had contributed the d gene, and more recent immigrants who had brought with them the D gene. In the light of present knowledge of the distribution of blood groups in Europe and south-western Asia few workers would now subscribe to this hypothesis in its simplest form; the difficulties which it presents have recently been discussed by Allison (I955). It probably, however, contains an element of truth since it has now been shown that the Basques have the lowest, or almost the lowest, European