From J. GILLETT
I was somewhat surprised to read in the report ‘DNA survey sets Basques
apart’ (Science, 19 March) that earlier views based on archaeological discoveries
have now been reinforced by genetic evidence. The genetic basis of this
distinction was surely well known 40 years ago, when A. E. Mourant wrote
his book, The Distribution of Human Blood Groups (Blackwell Scientific
Publications, 1954).
The abnormally low B gene frequency and the abnormally high d gene frequency
were both already well documented when this fine book was written, Mourant
drawing special attention to Etcheverry’s paper of 1945 on the ‘uniquely
high d frequency’ in the Basques. It was on account of these genetic differences
that set the Basques apart that some of us in the 1950s used to refer to
them as the Protoeuropeans.
J. Gillett London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
