Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-12-17
LAWS OF HEREOlTY.
interesting Experiments In Mice and
Guinea PiG Jnheritances.

Guinea Pig Jnheritances.
In the basement Of one of the Har-
ward university laboratories lives a
happy. well fed and self satisfied set
Element of nice rabbits and guinea
pigs, whose respective family histories,
from the oldest patriarch to the young
est great great-grandchild. are matters
of scientific record, these records in
turn furnishing data for long and pa
tient study Of their inherited charac-
teristcs. Every creature has an cstab-
lished pedigree, and the record in which
the scientist who is studying them has
noted the birth and life history of each
little animal numbers something over
100 entries. This record includes a
rough outline drawing of the animal
something like the typical human figure
on which a recruiting sergeant marks
down physical characteristics of new
recruit in the United States army or
navy on which are noted It's individual
markings and distribution of color.
To say that science thus watches the
development Of hereditary peculiarities
in guinea pigs. mice or rabbits imne-
dia tcly suggestsa question how can one
detect the inherited characteristics Of
these little animals? One guinea pig one
might say. IS very like another guinea
pig. and one rabbit very like another
rabbit. But visit to the menagerlc n I the
Harvard geological laborator. shows
| Immediately that there are differences
| in guinea pigs Some arc albinos. for
examplc-snow white, with pink eyes
others are only partly albino-''mosa-
les" the zoologist calls thcm-and yet
others are angoras, with long hair like
an angora kitten. or "rosetted." word
that describes n guinea pig whose hair
grows in such fashion that the timid
! little animal appears 10 he chemically
exposed to blowy weather. There are
more differences among the guinea
pigs than among either the mice or
rabbits. but in all classes there are diff
fcrcnces enough to establish questions
of Inheritance and show how this. that
| or other Characteristic has or has not
been transmitted. One Of the most
curious results of these Investigations,
for example has been the evolution of
a race of guinea pigs with four toes,
where ordinarily n guinea pig has but
three, curious popularity whose APP
pearance in Father Pig and subsc-
quent transmission through series
of generations is as yet only partly ex-
plainable
One Of the most interesting crea
lures in the collection Is the Waiting
mouse from Japan, whose great recrea
ton is to spin round and round and
round in one direction until he gets
tired and then round and round and
round in the other. The Waiting
mouse, moreover. appears intoxicated
when he walks, and the idea that Il
straight line is the shortest distance
between two points has evidently never
occurred to his philosophy. In mating,
the Waiting mouse proves for animals
exactly what series of experiments
conducted years ago by an Austria n
monk proved for the flowers in his
garden-his descendants. provided he
Is mated with normal mouse. are all
normal, and so also are their descend
ants so long as there is no mating with
another mouse who has the latent in
herited taste for the waltz; but when
both parents have such an Inheritance
one out OF every four of their descend
ants will tnke its recreation by spin
ming round and round and round in
the ancestral fashion.
The practical utility of such lines OF
experiment lies. obviously, in improv
ing the breed OF various domestic ami
mails, but the little Harvard menagerit
Is also working out problems of grea
consequence in heredity in general
question OF the greatest importance
when one realizes how vital in ON
modern civilization are our individual
lnheritnnces either of disease or char
actcr.