THE MICHIGAN DANLY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19,1944




500 FAMILIES SUBMITTED TO STUDY:
'U' Heredity Clinic Unique in This Country

ASSOCIATED PRESS

More than 500 families have been
studied in the last two and one-half
years by the Rackham Board sup-
ported Heredity Clinic, the only one
of its kind in this country and per-
haps the only one in the world, Dr.
Lee R. Dice of the Clinic said.
A general method of procedure has
been worked out for studying the her-
'Government in
B' usiness' Is
Panel Subject
"Government in Business" will be
the topic of a Post-War Council panel
discussion at 7:30 p.m. today in the
League.
Dr. Floyd Bond of the economics
department, Prof. C. L. Jamison of
the business administration school
and Frank Wynn of Detroit, inter-
national representative of the UAW-
CIO, will lead the panel.
Dr. Bond will present the back-
ground of the problem. He charac-
terizes the question of the role which
government should play in our post-
war economy as "one of the most
important and also one of the most
controversial facing post-war Amer-
ica. Business men want less govern-
ment in business; labor leaders are
inclined to demand more."
According to Dr. Bond, three prob-
lems stand out: the possibility of
uncontrolled inflation, the danger of
widespread unemployment and the
preservation of economic freedom.
"The basic problem is to find some
means of reconciling security with
freedom without retarding' techno-
logical progress," he added.
Gen. Simmons
Will Talk Today
Preventive Medicine in
Army To Be Subject
"Preventive Medicine in Military
Practice" will be the topic of an
address by Gen. James S. Simmons
of the'Army Medical Corps at 11 a.m.
today in the School of Public Health
Auditorium.
Gen. Simmons is the third speaker
in a series of five School of Public
Health dedicatory lectures.
A native of North Carolina, Gen.
Simmons is chief of the Preventive
Medicine Division of the Office of
the Surgeon General of the U.S.
Army and has charge of the health
and disease prevention services for
American troops in all theaters.
His best known professional con-
tributions have been in the field of
meningitis and leprosy control and
in studies relating to malaria and
typhoid fever.
Dow Selected
For AIC Medal
. Dr. Willard Henry Dow, who found
out how bo make enough magnesium
to produce thousands of fighting
airplanes, and enough styrene to
supply our needs for synthetic rub-
ber, has been selected to receive the
Gold Medal Award of the American
Institute of Chemists for the year
1944.
The medal is to be presented at
the annual meeting of the Institute
in the Biltmore Hotel, New York City,
May 13.

editary traits of these families, many
of whom have some prominent dif-
ficulty.
The first step is to obtain the fam-
ily's pedigree, a compilation of rela-
tionships as full as possible and the
dates of birth of the members. It
has been found necessary to study
not only those in the direct line of
descent but also cousins, uncles and
aunts and it is desirable to go back
into the family tree as far as possible,
Dr. Dice explained. Ages of the in-
dividuals must be known because
many inherited diseases do not make
their appearance until middle age.
An example is Huntington's chorea, a
mental disease which appears at the
age of 40 or later with symptoms of
motor tremor accompanied by men-
tal deterioration.
The second step in the procedure is
to inquire what the family knows
about the occurrence of particular
traits among its members. This in-
formation is likely to be inaccurate,
Dr. Dice said, and must be substan-
tiated by examination of the individ-
uals available in order to have a
sound and dependable diagnosis.
Many tests are given and a large
family may occupy the whole staff
for three or four months.
Interpretation Made
After tests have been given for the
specific traits being studied as many
other characteristics as possible are
measured. The measurement is com-
plicated by the fact that some traits
are shown by modifications of several
different parts of the body, Dr. Dice
remarked.
Following collection of all possible
data, an interpretation is made. An
effort is made to give families all in-
formation possible and in some cases'
to relieve their minds about particu-
lar difficulties. Dr. Dice said, "it is
never possible to predict what the
inheritance of a particular child
would be although the Clinic can
sometimes say that a child would
have a 50-50 or a 25-75 chance of
inheriting a particular characteris-
tic." If it is known that both parents
exhibit a certain recessive trait, all
the children will tend to have it, he
'added.
Cancer Inheritance Shown
"It is never safe to predict the
probable mode of heredity of any
particular trait until the family con-
cerned has been studied," Dr. Dice
commented. "Characters that ap-
pear to be the same in different
families may actually be caused by
different factors." He gave as an
example the current belief that a
child of parents with blue eyes will
invariably have blue eyes also. "Eye
color is much more complex than the
textbooks tell you," he remarked.
Some of the families which have
been studied show the inheritance of
certain types of cancer. Among these
is retinoblastoma which attacks the
retina of the eye, ultimately reaching
the brain and causing death. Others
have shown a tendency to high blood
pressure, tooth abnormalties, muscu-
lar dystrophy and morphological an-
omalies such as the presence of six
fingers.
Work Is Coordinated
In most of these cases the Heredity
Clinic finds it necessary to work with
other University departments. At
present the University Hospital, the1
dental school, psychological clinic,
speech department and others are co-
operating with the Clinic. "The
problems are enormous, the diversity
of measurements great and the num-1
ber of specialists that are concernedI
is large," Dr. Dice said.
The Clinic is serving as a central
agency for keeping records dealing

with heredity studies conducted by
individuals in the different depart-
ments on the campus and in the
state.
The environment of individuals
should also be studied in order to
distinguish those characters which
are mainly caused by heredity, but
Dr. Dice commented, "both heredity
and environment are important; to
argue which is more important is
futile."
Adult Tests To Be Made
The work of the Clinic is compli-
cated by the need for working out
specific methods of measurement,
especially in the determination of
units of character and personality
measurement. The precise units of
heredity of mental traits have not
been determined, Dr. Dice said, but
the Clinic hopes ultimately to be
able by means of careful studies to
recognize some units.
Work is now going forward on
selection of a battery of mental tests
designed especially for. adults. Dr.
Dice explained that the mental tests
which are ordinarily given to school
children are of little help because
many of the individuals who come to
the Clinic are adults.
Intensive Work Needed
"It is certain that such things as
wildness and fierceness are inherited
in animals and likewise features of
temperament or character are prob-
ably inherited in men, but it very
difficult to measure these things,"
Dr. Dice said. "The physiological
background is important here because
such things as a high metabolic rate
may make a difference."
Most of the families studied so far
have come upon recommendation
from the University Hospital or den-
tal school, and the service is given
free of charge. "Enough families
are now under study so that if no
new ones came we would be busy for
ten years," Dr. Dice said. He expres-
sed his belief that it is more import-
ant to study a few families intensively
than to try to spread the work out
over a large number of families.
War Hits Staff
The Heredity Clinic staff "theor-
etically consists of two full time sci-
entific members plus office workers,
but has-been badly broken up. by the
war," Dr. Dice said. "At present we
are using largely part-time workers
and could use a staff much larger."
Dr. Dice came to the University
in 1919 as a member of the staff of
the Museum ofZoology. His early
training was in the field of. ecology
and from there he worked into animal
geetics and later into human gen-
etics.
Sigma Rho0 Tau
T OHoldDebate
"Air Power as a Nucleus for a
World Police Force" will be the sub-
ject of an Oxford Debate to be held
by the Stump Speaker's Society of
Sigma Rho Tau, honorary engineer-
ing speech club, at 730 p.m. today in
Rm. 318 of the Union.
Prof. Dean E. Hobart of the engin-
eering school faculty will present the
international aspect of the problem,
and Prof. Frank R. Steinbacher, of
the aeronautical engineering depart-
ment, will speak on the practicality
of the, proposal from an airman's
standpoint.
A number of students will also par-
ticipate in the discussion, which is
being continued from' two weeks ago,
including Donald Vance, 45E, Jerry
Cardillo, Robert Dangl, Polly Carrol
and Phillip Snyder.

POCTURE

NVEWiS

P L A S T I C C H A I R-To be on display soon at New York's
Museum of Modern Art, this plastic chair is designed for use by
members of the armed forces. Frame and cushion can be folded
and deflated to fit into a briefcase.

G 0 0 D O M E N ?-Pennsylvania Democrats contend the ar-
rival of Thomas Jefferson (above), Ceylonese dwarf donkey, born
in a Pittsburglh zoo, is a good omen for the coming campaign.,

K E Y E S--Cinema Actress Ev-
elyn Keyes (above)takces time'
out between movie sequences to
pose for this still photo.

B A S R E L I E F.- Carved and painted by Italian prisoners 'of war at Camp Clark, Mo.. this bas
relief of the Last Supper was presented to a Kansas City Catholic church.


Spring formals, and you in
a froth of tulle or organdy,

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S C O R E B O A R D --Staff Sgt. Kenneth M. Scollon of Barnes-
boro. Pa., paints another Rising Sun flag, indicating a Jap plane
shot down by a Seventh Air Force Liberator bomber, on the group
scoreboard in the central Pacific.

G I B R A L T A R M E C H A N I C S--At the foot of a -sheer
face of the Rock of Gibraltar a group of British air mechanics
put a newly overhauled engine back into a Beaufighter.

or bewitchingly demure
cotton. Sizes 9-16.
$995

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