Evening star., 1941-10-26
By THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff CorreSpondent.

Institute, made obscurely before a
zoology seminar here the other
night, might we'll be one of the most
significant in biology since the orgi-
nal discovery of the basic laws OF
heredity by the Austrian monk,
Gregor Mendel, about rs years ago.
DR.. Keeler's work furnishes es-
sentially the first acceptable scien-
tifc evidence of the inheritance OF
temperament in animals, generally
believed in the past, but almost i'm
possible to prove because of extreme
complications introduced by the ef-
fects of environment.
No Hint of Mechanism.
1t is generally assumed, for eX-
ample, that quick temper or a pas
sive disposition are handed down in
there has been no hint as to the
mechanism of such heredity.
The Wistar Institute biologist has
found. he said, that tameness is as
sociated with pink eyes and black
fur in rats in single genetic COM
pleX which is passed on from gen.
Grafton to generation according to
the laws of heredity, and which may
have appeared originally as muta-
ton, and the effects of which can
be predicted and proved by actual
experiment.
Perhaps million years ago, he
suggests, the same mutation may
have occurred in fierce. wild ape
like creature and the result was
man with his capacity for CO.
operation. The same sort of muta-
tion, he believes. makes the dog,
cat and cow tame. 1t probably
never has appeared in the horse
which is born a wild animal and
must be domesticated anew in each
generation by severe discipline.
Find Heed Significant.
All in all. the gene complex dis
covered by DR.. Keeler is considered
by geneticists as one of the most
significant that has appeared in the
evolution of life on earth. His own
researches are confined to rats, just
as those of Mendel which established
the fundamental laws OF heredlty
throughout the living world, were
confined to sweet peas in the mon
astery garden.
The discovery is the result, DR..
Keeler told the seminar, of light
that failed" One of the most dis
tinguished of American biologists.
the late Dr. Henry H. Donald
son of the Wistar Institute, became
interested about generation ago
In the problem of the domestlcation
of animals-a subject which IN
tripued Charles Darwin. DR.. Donald
son believed that capacity Tor
domestication, as Darwin had main
tanned. was the result OF a vast
number of minute changes occurring
over many generations, combined
with the active efforts OF man TO
tame animals which were useful
to him.
Almost any wild creature can De
tanned with proper discipline ana
kindness. At the Wistar Institute
has been bred a special strain OF
white rats, every step IN whose
heredity was carefully recorded.
They are tame, gentle little crea-
lures. Yet they belong to the same
race as the gray Norway rat, pest
of American homes, which is de-
cidedlv a wild animal and can be
tanned only with extreme difficulty.
The wild rat appears in several
color strains. The white rat mas
In its genetic constitution the genes
of these colors which are passed
on from generation to generation
but they are masked" by one dom
inant gene which has come about
by mutation and which makes them
white. This was point, however,
which DR.. Donaldson missed.
All Sorts of Experiments.
He tried all sorts of experiments
with various genetic crosses and
kept rigidly accurate records OF his
results. He experimental with tam
ing wild rats, in which there was
some success, and in making white
rats wild, which was extremely dif-
ficult. Finally he gave up and
stored his records away. DR.. Keeler
came across them, together with
his much-annoted copy Of Darwin's
book on domestication, after his
death.
From these records he obtained
the clue which Dr.. Donaldson had
missed and which may be the key
TO the whole field of inheritance Of
temperament.
In DR.. Donaldson's day it was
believed that hereditary qualities
In plants and animals, including
man, were passed on from genera
tion to generation by single genes,
the carriers of heredity in the germ
plasm. That is, one gene would de-
termine whether a child had blue
or black eyes Another might de-
termine the length of the arms.
Still another might determine the
size of the head. Thousands Of
them, working independently, de-
ternined what an offspring would
be like. On top of all this came
the modifying effects of education
and experience.
The newer doctrine is that genes
Sx6IG tIlo1I cllcCtS Ill 8,
that several of them are linked to-
gether and that offspring receive
not single qualities from their par
ents but bundles Of qualities. 1t is
known, for example, that certain
disease%such as the bleeding dis
ease of European royalty-are al
ways associated in a complex FASH
Ion with sex
Astounding Fact.
Working over DR.. Donaldson's rec
ords DR.. Keeler came upon the
astounding fact that a big bundle
of hereditary qualities always were
passed along with the gene deter
mining black coat color in rats These
changes seemed to offset the whole
body. The animals became smaller
and lazier. Sizes of the endocrine
glands changed. There was re-
markable change in temperament
IL. PVJH- -