116 



The Journal of Heredity 



found its first clear expression in the 

 teachings of the zoologist Lamarck 

 and was in part at least accepted by 

 Danvin, was strongly denied by the 

 zoologist Weissmann who is followed in 

 this resjxct by most ])resent day 

 naluraHsls. The strife between ad- 

 herents of Lamarckism and adherents 

 of Weissmannism is l:)itter and con- 

 tinuous, and Dr. Wilsdorf does not 

 think that, on the whole, it is very 

 profitable to the science of animal 

 breeding. Most of the alleged cases of 

 inheritance of acquired characteristics 

 he admits may be dismissed without 

 much hesitation, but he sees others in 

 which the influence of the environment 

 seems to him to be transmitted directly 

 to succeeding generations. "If we 

 observe the well-known Arabian horse 

 at home, we recognize in him a definite 

 type, which is common to the whole 

 breed in Arabia. The Arabs say of him, 

 'The Arab horse remains an Arab horse 

 only so long as he breathes the air of 

 the desert.' For centuries Arabian 

 horses have been brought to all ci\'ilized 

 countries and have astonishingly 

 changed. The English Arab is dif- 

 ferent from the Hungarian, and both 

 are different from the Prussian or 

 Saxon or French. Whence comes this 

 inherited variability in form, size, looks? 



Till-: SI.M.MKNT.VLIsR CATTLE. 



"In the Bernese Oberland are the 

 huge and beautifully formed cattle 

 called Simmentaler. These, too, have 

 been carried to all other countries, and 

 at present there exist abroad a multitude 

 of Simmentaler herds which in part, 

 indeed, are similar, but in part show 

 great difTerenccs. One more examjjlc: 

 on the stei)])es of tlungary is found a 

 breed of SteiJ]X' Cattle, of little value 

 because of its low milk ])roduction. The 

 increasing demand for milk has led the 

 Magyars and the Hungarian govern- 

 ment to seek in every ]jossil)le way to 



increase the milk }'ield of this breed. 

 High producing cattle from other dis- 

 tricts have been brought in; sometimes 

 these have been maintained and further 

 bred pure; sometimes they have been 

 crossed with the nati\'e cattle. At first, 

 fine results were secured, but with 

 further generations the newcomers be- 

 came more and more like the old steppe 

 cattle in form, size and milk yield, until 

 finally the progeny of the North 

 German and Swiss bulls and cows came 

 to be almost exactly like the steppe 

 cattle. Such cases, small or large, can 

 be found in almost any cattle country 

 in the world today." 



In conclusion, the author warns his 

 readers, let there be no misunder- 

 standing as to what the science of 

 genetics claims to have accomplished 

 in Germany. Progress has been great 

 — astonishingly great considering the 

 short time involved — but the distance 

 yet to go is still greater. "The question 

 of the inheritance or non-inheritance of 

 ])arental qualities, the problem of chang- 

 ing the inherited characters of animals 

 during their youth, the maintenance of 

 high fecundity joined to high produc- 

 tion, the finding of tests of the fitness of 

 animals for the purposes for which they 

 are desired, the tendency to greater 

 variability in many breeds, the pre- 

 potency of the different sexes, the 

 determination of sex of progeny, arti- 

 ficial fecundation, the inheritance of 

 diseases: all these questions and many 

 others have either only been touched, 

 or arc wholly unexplored. As Dr. 

 Midler of Tetschcn, the founder of the 

 German Genetic Association, aptly said, 

 we stand before riddles, — but riddles 

 whose solution we can attack with more 

 hopeful zeal than ever at the i)resent 

 day; their solution will mean an im- 

 mense gain to the live-stock breeder, 

 the agriculturist, but perhaps no part 

 of this gain will be greater than the 

 light which will be thrown on the 

 nature of Man liimself." 



