Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-23
STATION FOR EXPERIMENTAL
EVOLUTION


role of creator
The discovery Of the new laws of organic
evolution is the prime function Of this In
teresting institution, and its direct bearing
upon man may best be set forth in the
words of DR.. Charles 3. Davenport, its d.
rector
Since when we know the law we may
control the process, the principles Of evo-
luton will show the way to an improve
ment of the human race. A knowledge or
the principles of evolution is advantageous
in still another way. 1t shows how organ
isms may be best modified to meet our re-
quirements of beauty, food, materials and
power. The carnation can be made not
only crimson, but white, yellow and blue;
it can be made as large as chrysanthe-
mum or dwarfed. So the bantam fowl may
be made of a red color or black or white;
with a ruff, or without; with long tall or
with no tail. The egg yield Of the hen may
be raised from 80 to over 2Vo per year. Inc
strength of the horse may be increased as
that of the Percheron exceeds that of the
Norwegian pony. In fact, by using the
already known principles of evolution great
practical advances have been made in the
past. We are consequently justified in ex-
pecting that an extension of evolutionary
principles will result in further advances in
the future"
The Living Raw Material.
The Station for Experimental Evolu-
ton is located at the head of Cold Spring
Harbor, fourteen miles in direct line from
the boundary of Greater New York The
reservation is between the New York state
fish hatchery and the Brooklyn Institute. 1t
occupies a hll-slope bordered by the sea,
is crossed by fresh water creek and Is
screened on the land side by a background
of densely-forested hills, Astounding with
plant and animal life The eye of the Wis
itor. looking down upon the center of the
plot from the directors residence, on the
upland side, is first attracted by sub
stantial structure Of light brick, modelled IN
the style of the Italian Renaissance. About
this. the main laboratory building, are
grouped numerous experimental gardens,
stables, pens and runways for the creatures
series of experiments. Here is new 'propa-
eating house" for plants, there new
vivarium for insect-breeding, and yonder
"brooder house for poultry-breeding, while
further down the hill slope are forty col
ony houses not to mention new bird
house." as yet unfinished. In various pens
goats, sheep and cattle, indifferent to the
vari-colored fowls, which peck about be-
tween their feet, are summing themselves
or browsing upon the grass scared by the
winters SHOWS.
Indoors, the admitted visitor beholds
corps of biologists studying with admiring
eyes such smaller cattle as guinea pigs,
rats pigeons, finches, canaries, snails.
worms, moths, beetles, crickets, bees and
even flies
Inventing Freak Cat.
Popular interest is excited most by the
directors curious collection of cats. Here
the entire gamut of the domestic feline
family Is represented. Some notable indi-
viduals are a black, tailless Manx cat;
white, blue-eyed, deaf cat. which Is poly
dactyli.e., has superfuous toes; also
black, Maltese and black an. yellow
cat-all polydactyl. With this particular
group DR.. Davenport some time ago COM
menced a curious breeding experiment
xryhn hn
'1f characteristics are for the most part
inherited entire and can be combined in
various ways, like atoms in chemistry, it
should be possible to obtain any desired
combination. At the beginning of 1905 set
myself the task of procuring a white, blue
eyed, deaf. long-haired, tailless, polydactyl
cat"
The no-tailed Manx was the father of the
first generation, the deaf cat and the other
polydactyl cats being employed as mothers.
In one year there We're obtained an inter-
esting variety of kittens-some no-ta.led
and normal toed, some tailed and abnormal
toed, and others deaf. and so on. This work
of breeding to order distinct variety OF
white, blue-eyed, deaf, long-haired, tailless,
polydactyl cats still goes on, promisingly.
While such a breed will have no practical
value, its creation will prove the theory of
gently working. The selection of this par
ticular variety was but the result of the
parent stock which he happened to have
on hand when the experiment commenced.
Freak Sheep, Goats and Chickens.
Similarly by experimenting with cattle
he hopes to determine whether the quality
of Holsten milk, already noted for its re-
markable quantity, can be improved by
breeding with the Jersey. Dr. Alexander
Graham Bell has presented the station with
two of his five-nippled Nova Scotia ewes
and one of his six-nippled rams. With these
it is proposed to experiment in the very
Of ha
Der of milk glands in sheep. There have
been obtained also two Irish goats. one
having upon the neck two well-developed
Wattles and the other with only one such
popularity. These abnormalities appear in
the form of a flap of skin, or rudimentary
ear on each side of the neck of some do
mestic pigs. They sometimes appear also
with Others not thus distinguished will
serve, as in the other experiments, to throw
light upon the problems Of heredity.
Experiments with poultry have yielded
quicker results, since two generations can
be reared to maturity in a single year.
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