The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-29
BRED MICE WITH No TAILS.
DEATH OF THE SIMPLE OLD eRo-
GER WHO FOOLED THE SCI
ENTIFIC WORLD
CHARACTER IN LEXINGTON
An Interesting Story I'm n Medical
journal About the Claims the
Old Man Had Made About
His Pets.

B. N. Shiddell, who died in Lexington,
KY, few days ago, was man of most
eccentric habits. When a young man he
swore he would not shave until Henry
Clay was elected president of the United
States, and he never did He wore his
long beard. several feet in length, knot
ted and massed under his waistcoat to
keep it out of the way. He it was who
fooled scientists of the world by an
nouncing that he had bred the tails off
white mice. His claim provoked much
discussion among medical men. many Of
whom believed his statements.
Only a few days before the death Of
Mr.. Shiddell an article by Charles E.
Woodruff, NJ. D.. U. S. A, contained the
Woodruff, NJ. D., U. S. A, containing
the following, was sent to the Medical
Record:
There Is not a mort important ques-
ton in theoretical medicine than the one
which at present absorbs so much of the
time of our biologists. whether modifica-
tons acquired by an organism, and not
inherited as a normal variation, can be
transmitted to its offspring. Physicians,
as class, are so thoroughly convinced
that acquired notifications are trans
mitted in family lines that to ask them
to give UP their belief is almost as futile
as 10 ask them to renounce their faith in
a future existence.
Mutilations were long ago resorted to
for proof of the transmission CT acquired
notifications, and although mutilations
are not the notifications usually thought
of better fitting an OrpaOiST1 n it4
environment, yet is was seen that If such
gross changes could be transmitted, sure
ly the more subtle ones could be. In only
one case has there been a report of the
successful transmission Of mutilations,
and it has been so extensively quoted
that l have taken the trouble to trace
the fake down, though it has taken near
ly three years to do SO. 1t was alleged
that tailless mice had been bred by cut
ting oE the tails of the young as soon as
they were born, and In six or eight gen.
erattons tailless filters were born.
'Dr. Charles E. Lockwood, of New
York, is generally referred to as the eX-
perimenter, but he writes me that he had
nothing TO do with 1t except as below
mentioned. In discussing the subject OF
the transmission of mutilations with Col
s. D. Bruce. the latter referred to Mr..
A. S. Shiddell Of Lexington, KY, who
had thus bred tailless mice. They wrote
TO Mr.. Shiddell, who kindly detailed the
experiments, and his letter was given to
Prof H. F. Osborn, who quoted the fol-
lowing extract in his Cartwright lecture:
:" I selected a pair of white mice on &C
count of their rapid breeding bred them
i'll and in for ninety-six generations, as
they breed every thirty days, and when
they are thirty days old they are able to
reproduce themselves. [ destroyed all
sickly and defective ones by breeding only
the fttest. l bred all disease out of them,
and had a pure blooded animal larger
and finer every way than the original
pair. In breeding their tails off, selected
a pair and put them in a cage by them
selves, and when they had young 1 took
the young and clipped their tails off.
When old enough to breed l selected a
pair from the young and bred them to-
gether and when they had young I clip
ped their tails. l continued this breeding
in and In, clipping each generation. and
selecting a pair Of the last young each
time. In seven generations some of the
young came without tails until I gDt a
perfect breed of tailless mice. L then took
one with a tail and one without a tail
and bred them together, and by changing
the sexes each time-a male without tail
and male with tale-I was finally re-
warded with all-tail mice
Mr.. Shiddell, In a letter to me, says
that he was ten years at this work, yet
by his own statement not more than six
generations can be obtained in one year,
so that his ninety-siX generations would
take sixteen years alone for the prelim-
mary experiments before he began the
tail clipping. 1t is absurd 70 suppose that
man would take such a long time for the
preliminary work. In another letter be
states that it was only ninety genera
lons but as the handwriting is not that
of an old man, but rather that OF a young
woman, we presume that there Is an err
ror In copying. I have been unable to
find the length Of CESSATION In white mice,
but as they are merely albinos OF the com
mon house mouse, we presume that they
have the same period-twenty-seve days,
and are not developed until three months
old. This would limit them to three gen
eratiops year, and for the whole length
of Shiddells experiments a period of thfr-
ty-three years is necessary. 1t is not like
ly that in-and-in breeding for ninety-six
generations will result in finer specimens
than the original, nor will it breed all dis
eases out of them. We are taught to be-
lieye the reverse.
He states that he got some tailless
ones in seven generations, but does not
state how much longer it took to get
them all tailless. In letter to me he
says that in the sixth generation some
came tailless, and In the seventh genera
ton all came without tails. In a letter
to Dr. Lockwood he states that he had
no time to make other experiments, yet
the above letter claims to have reversed
the process.
"Shiddell gives the following as his rea-
sons for attempting the experiments
Quite a number of years ago 1 wished
| to carry out a theory of mine, which
was that each particular part of the
animal organization furnished the sub
| stance to reproduce that part, this be
ing entirely original with me. never hav
| ing heard of any experiments being
made
1.-THE cause Of this remarkable publica
| ton of imaginary experiments Is found
in Mr.. Shiddell's mental equipment. H
! IS evidently we'll known locally, a.
shown by the following extract from
letter sent to me by the editor of tn
Kentucky Gazette, of Lexington: He
a gentleman who for a long time con
| Quoted a small GROCERY and Was know