| Abstract: | Reports on the incidence of single clockwise occipital whorls as opposed to double and counterclockwise whorls reveal no consistent geographical pattern. Earlier workers arrived at different conclusions. While Bernstein ('25b) and Schwartzburg ('27) suggested a dominant inheritance of counter-clockwise whorls, others like Winchester ('58) and Montagu ('63) believed the clockwise condition to be dominant. In the light of these and some other studies, Scheinfeld's ('56) remarks that chance factor in prenatal development may influence dominance, seem appropriate. The results of present study indicate that clockwise and anti-clockwise conditions show inconsistent variation which may be the result of change element rather than any specific mode of distribution. Two groups from India: 164 Pandits of Kashmir, pre-dominantly Caucasian and 95 Tibetan refugees, predominantly Mongoloid are contrasted. The incidence of a single clockwise whorl among Pandits is 67%, whereas among Tibetans it is 78%. A review of other populations studied shows greater variance within than between the so-called major racial stocks. |
