Abstract

Serum protein concentrations were determined in the cord blood of 75 African and 10 European babies born in Zambia, and in the venous blood of 5 pregnant African women at term.

When the high γ-globulin fraction was excluded, there was no significant difference between the pattern of serum proteins of the Africans and the Europeans at birth.

Present evidence favours the view that the high serum γ-globulin and low albumin of the adult Negro have an environmental rather than a genetic background.