184 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



What are called variegated varieties in plants have less vitality than 

 normal plants. 



One variety of the Coleiis is cultivated for the variety of colour in 

 its leaves, and for the white patches on its leaves, a whole 

 branch will be spotted more or less with white, brown, red, and green, 

 and by making cuttings from the vanegated branch, where white pre- 

 dominates, for all branches arc not equally coloured, the variety may be 

 made constant and this is carried out to obtain more white, till at last 

 the leaves become almost white and the stem pink, then that plant will 

 gradually fade away and die. 



It IS impossible to obtain a specimen of this plant just now, but 

 here is a dried specimen of the Phyllanthus Nivosus, a Euphorbracious 

 plant, in which the tendency to grow white leaves is a strongly marked 

 characteristic. The leaves are alternate and at the base of the stalk are 

 green and of full size. They show their tendency to become white, in- 

 creasing as they get nearer the end of the stalk, till they become nearly 

 or quite white and suddenly drop in size. In this specimen the leaves 

 become smaller as the white increases and at last, when quite white, they 

 are much smaller and die early and drop off, here are two leaves which 

 have dropped. In the branch on which the leaves become white, the stem 

 at the same time assumes a pink colour. 



As people get older there is usually a decreasing amount of pigment 

 in the hair, and the older the whiter the hair becomes. This whitening 

 may be the result of some sudden stay in vitality from shock, when the 

 vitality is greatly suspended, so that whiteness, where pigment should be, 

 may be accepted as an evidence of sliglitly lessened vitality. 



Information received from a lady who is a cat fancier is to the effect 

 that white Persian cats are more or less deaf and that the lighter coloured 

 breeds are less healthy than pigmented varieties, the hardiest being 

 the black. 



If then white hair may be taken as an index of weakness, and it 

 would appear that it is so, it would imply that the side on which white 

 hair is most frequent would be the weaker and the figures quoted above 

 ATOuld show a preponderance of strength on the right side. 



In man it has been observed that deformities and arrest of develop- 

 ment occur more frequently on the left side. 



Notably, liare lip most frequent on left side. Here is a set of skia- 

 graphs showing deformity in both arms and legs. The young lad from 

 whose hands these two were made is a Russian Jew. On the left arm 

 there are only the two middle fingers which are complete to the base of 

 the metacarpal bones, the unciform bone is present and what appears 



