Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-12-05
AVIS OF HEREDlTY.
Interesting Experiments In Mice an"
Guinea Pig Inheritnnces.


Guinea Pig Inherftnnces'
In the basement Of one OF the Har-
ward university laboratories lives d
hanpy. 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 ana pa
tent study of their inherited charac-
teristics. Every creature has an estap-
lished pedigree, and the record In whlcn
tbe scientist who is studying them mas
noted the birth and life history OF eacn
little animal numbers something over
1.5OO entries. This record includes d
rough outline drawing Of the animal
something like the typical human inquire
on which a recruiting sergeant marks
down physical characteristics OF a new
recruit in the United States army or
nayv-on which are noted its Individual
markings and distribution of color.
To say that science thus watches the
development of hereditary peculiarities
In guinea pigs, mice or rabbits imme-
diately suggestsa question-how can one
detect the inherited characteristics OF
these little animals? One guinea pig, one
might say. is very like another guinea
mig. and one rabbit very like announcer
rabbit. Buta visit to the menagerie atthe
Harvard geological laboratory SHOWS
Immediately that there are differences
in guinea pigs. Some are albinos, toi
example-snow white, with pink eyes
others are only partly albino-" mosa
los" the zoologist calls them-and ye'
others are angoras, with long hair Ike
an angora kitten, or 'rosetted," wore
that describes a guinea pig whose nall
grows in such fashion that the tlmic
little animal appears to be chronically
exposed to blowy weather. There are
more differences among the guinea
pigs than among either the mice o.
rabbits, but in all classes there are Oil
ferences enough to establish questions
of inheritance and show how this, tina
! or other characteristic mas or mas no
been transmitted. One OF the mos
curious results of these investigations
for example, has been the evolution o
n race of guinea pigs with four toes
where ordinarily a guinea pig has bu
three. a curious popularity whose ap
pearance in Father Pig and suose
ouent transmission through q serle
/ of generations is as yet only partly ex
plainable.
One of the most interesting crea
lures in the collection is the waltzini
mouse from Japan. whose great recrea
ton is to spin round and round ant
round in one direction until he get
tired and then round and round ant
round in the other The waltzln
mouse. moreover. appears intoXicate
when he walks. and the idea that
straight line Is the shortest distanc
between two points has evidently neve
occurred to his philosophy. In mating
the waltZing mouse proves for animal
exactly what series Of experiment
conducted years ago by an Austria
monk proved for the flowers In hi
carden-his descendants, provided b
is mated with a normal mouse. are a
normal, and so also are their descend
ants so long as there is no mating wit
another mouse who has the latent II
herited taste for the waltz; but whe
both parents have such an inheritanc
one out Of every four of their descend
ants will take its recreation by spill
ming round and round and round !
the ancestral fashion.
The practical utility Of such lines
experiment lies, obviously, in impro'
ing the breed of various domestic an
mails. but the little Harvard menager
is also working out problems OF gref
consequence in heredity in general
question Of the greatest importanC
when one realizes how vital in OF
modern civilization are our individu'
inheritances either of disease or cha
! acter.