The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-05

the May-hower descendants. In fact,
compared with some Of these modest
guinea pigs the best accredited May
flower descendant is little better than
parvenu. And these pigs, mice, and
rabbits, each in it's own way, are prov
ing the truth of a scientific principle
discovered some forty years ago by one
Gregor Mendel an Austrian monk, in
the garden of his cloister-a principle
which is known to science as Mendel's
law of heredity. Mendel, and other
later investigators. proved his law for
plants, and the little animals in the
Harvard cages are engaged in proving
it for the higher organisms.
Menders law was originally discov-
cred by series of pretty experiments
In the cultivation of garden flowers in
which he crossed different varieties of
ordinary garden peas and carefully
watched the result. The result proved
that If a pea with yellow cotyledons,
as botansts call the seed leaves of the
young plant, were crossed with one
having green cotyledons, all the peas
resulting from the process would have
yellow cotyledons. If these peas were
crossed with others having similar
yellow cotyledons the result stin fol-
lowed that yellow was the characters
tic color of the seed leaves. But II the
peas descended from the original cross
ing were self-pollinated or crossed
with each other the result would be one
green-seeded pea for every three yellow
ones. In other words, the peas Inherit
ed characteristic from the first cross
ing that did not appear until the sec
ond generation, and then only in
crosses between two plants In both of
which the inherited characteristic
might be considered latent. BY the
discovery and study of this curious
series of Inheritance among the garden
plants of his cloister the Austrian
monk evolved a law that now, accord
ing to modern scientists, bids fair to
prove as fundamental to right. un-
Outstanding of heredity as the law of
definite proportions in chemistry"
To say that science watches, day by
day, the development of heredity pecu-
liarities in many happy families OF
guinea pigs, mice, or rabbits imme-
diately suggests a 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 a visit to the do
nestle menagerie at the Harvard ZOO
logical laboratory shows Immediately
LIldL lnGEG are ulIGIGHCcS III BulhGa
pigs; some of them are albinos, for ex-
ample, snow white with pink eyes,
while others are only partly albino-
"mosaics," the zoologist calls them
and yet others are angoras, with long
hair like an angora kitten, or "ros-
etted"-a word that describes a guinea
pig whose hair grows in such fashion
that the timid little creature presents
the appearance of being chronically ex-
posed to b1owy weather. There are
more differences indeed among the gut
nea pigs than among either the mice or
rabbits, but in classes there are differ
ences enough to establish the question
of inheritance and show how this, that,
or the other characteristic has or has
not been transmitted. One of the most
curious results of these Investigations
has been the evolution of race OF
guinea pigs with four toes where or
dinarily a guinea pig has but three--a
curious popularity whose appearance in
Father Pig and subsequent transmits
sion through a series Of generations 10
an occurrence that. so far, can be ex-
planned only by the theory that Mother
Pig, far back in her unknown ances-
try, had had a similarly four-toed pro-
genitor.
Every creature in this unique scien-
tific menagerie has an established ped
fgree and the record in which the scien-
tist sets down the birth and life his
tory of the animals under his charge
has, during the last three years includ-
ed something over 1900 entries. This
record includes a picture OF the subject
itself, a rough outline drawing on
which are recorded-somewhat as is
done on a typical drawing of the human
figure when a new recruit enters the
United States army or navy-the char
acteristic markings and color of that
particular individual. Each animal,
moreover, is a recognized personality
in the eyes of the scientist, who can
tell you it's genealogy as promptly as a
college of hera1dry can trace a human
family tree and doubtless much more
accurately.
Naturally the keeper of this curious
menagerie becomes very familiar with
the inhabitants, of his wire cages, all
of them more or less tame but each
retaining withal a more or less per-
sonal attitude Of mind toward being
picked up by an alien hand and hav-
ing its fur measured with a bit OF
tape or its eye examined for traces of
inherited color. None OF the guinea
pigs appear to enjoy this familiarity,
although it is equally evident that
they are not in the least terrified by IT..
The rabbits, on the other hand, like
being petted, and the little white or
gray mice, once you have succeeded In
catching them by the tail--and that,
by the way. is the correct scientific
manner Of catching mouse-rnake no
further resistance, but submit with
grave philosophy to the interrogations
of science.
One of the most interesting crea-
lures in the collection is the Waiting
mouse, which comes from Japan and
whose great recreation is to spin round
and round and round, like a dancing
In ana dirocf4oy, 4t~ttl - erofo