THE GENETICS OF JACOB 



R. E. Stone 

 Department of Botany, Ontario Agrieultural College. 



THE science of genetics is twenty- 

 one years old, but the founda- 

 tions upon which genetics rests 

 are very old indeed. The very begin- 

 nings are prehistorical, and enough 

 information on heredity was early ac- 

 quired to give rise to certain systems 

 of selection in animal breeding. 



Jacob, for example, was able to 

 mulct his father-in-law through a defin- 

 ite system of selection and mating. 

 That Jacob was in advance of many 

 in his time there is little doubt, and 

 also there is little doubt that he did 

 not care to have his associates learn 

 the secret of his success. He was, 

 throughout his whole life, mainly con- 

 cerned with the advancement of Jacob 

 and Jacob only. Although we may 

 agree that this son of the chosen peo- 

 ple was a consummate rogue, we often 

 do him injustice on the score of knowl- 

 edge. 



In the book of Genesis 30 :37-42 

 there is set forth in detail a system 

 which Jacob is supposed to have used 

 in order to influence the color of his 

 flock. This passage is often cited 

 to show that Jacob believed in the 

 efficacy of maternal impressions. A 

 careful reading of the chapter shows 

 that he realized the importance of 

 segregation, as he put three days jour- 

 ney between his spotted herd and the 

 flocks of Laban. Furthermore, this 

 account has been written by an ob- 

 server not concerned in the material 

 aspect. We get a clearer understand- 

 ing of Jacob's notions concerning 

 breeding if we read Genesis 31 :8-14, 

 which purports to l)e Jacob's own 

 account of his procedure: 



"H he (Laban) said thus. The 

 s])eckled shall be thy wages ; then 

 all the cattle bare speckled; and if 

 he said thus. The ring-straked 

 shall be thy hire ; then bare all 

 the cattle ring-straked. Thus God 

 hath taken away the cattle of 



your father and given them to 

 me, and it came to pass at the 

 time that the cattle conceived, 

 that I lifted up mine eyes, and 

 saw in a dream, and behold the 

 rams zvJiicJi leaped upon the cattle 

 zvere ring-straked, and speckled 

 and grizzled. And the angel of 

 God spoke to me in a dream say- 

 ing, Jacob, and I answered, Here 

 am L And he said, lift up now 

 thine eyes and see, all the rams 

 which leap upon the cattle are 

 ring-straked, speckled and griz- 

 zled, for I have seen all that 

 Laban doeth unto thee." 



Jacob had been "stung" in his first 

 contract with Laban. He had labored 

 fourteen years to make good his slip 

 and all this time had been trying to 

 devise a means whereby to provide for 

 his family. As a result of long brood- 

 ing while tending his herds his "in- 

 spiration" came in a dream : Mixed 

 breeding and isolation. To how many 

 scientific men has the solution of a 

 difficult problem come in the same 

 way? 



Taking the two chapters together it 

 would seem that Jacob had observed 

 the results of cross breeding, and prob- 

 ably also observed what took place 

 when both parents were of the same 

 type. Of course, we cannot now make 

 a genetic analysis of Laban's cattle, 

 but if "ring-straked, speckled and 

 grizzled" are assumed to be dominant 

 characters, we must recognize that 

 Jacob's breeding methods were not 

 based altogether on superstition. He 

 realized the value of isolation and had 

 some knowledge of the importance of 

 giving the get an opportunity to de- 

 velop under the most favorable condi- 

 tions. Since the modern breeder 

 makes use of the same principles it 

 indicates that the art of breeding was 

 fairlv well advanced at that early 

 period.— 1746 (?) B. C. 



228 



