Dinner

In the dining room of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Manhattan, sat Richard O. Marsh of Rochester, N. Y., feeding his three "white Indian" children, rapt, from Panamanian forests (TIME, June 30). Muttering among themselves, leading Manhattan scientists munched with them. Plates were removed, the three blond guests of honor were encircled, a critical examination begun.

Itching with curiosity, the scientists pinched, poked, tweaked the Indians (Marguerite, Chepu, Olo), pondered over their glands.

Said some : "They are not albinos."

Others : "They are partial albinos."

Still others : "They are albinos."

Those who said "albinos" remembered their Columbus and their von Humboldt, both of whom reported albinos in Panama. Also their Cortes.

He found "white ones" in Tenochtitlan.

None agreed with Mr. Marsh that here were links between the red and white races. Opinions varied as to a pathological cause for such extraordinary pallor :

1) Endocrine (ductless gland) deficiency.

2) Leucodermia, an affection of the nerves often observed in the West Indies, which produces white patches on the victim's skin.