134 



The Journal of Heredity 



Mr. Brookens adds that *■' these people 

 Hve from 14 to 20 miles from my studio. 

 They had planned to have a bij^ gather- 

 ing at the home of No. 2" {i. e., the 

 first of the upper row in the photo- 

 graph) on her 79th birthday, September 

 4, 1908, and I had been engaged to 

 make the photograph that day, but 

 No. 2 died August 30 and was buried 

 September 1. On September 4, as pre- 

 arranged, the five living parties were 

 photographed and I copied from an old 

 photo the deceased lady. So you see 

 that all six generations were "living 

 from July 25 to August 30. The 

 oldest lady is ninety-five past, she has 

 41 grandchildren and 167 descendants. 



"Margaret Elder died about twenty 

 days after baby Gulley was born." 



The five mothers married at ages 18, 

 15, 17, 15, 15, thus averaging 16 at the 

 time of marriage. 



Minute details regarding the Pass 

 family, the second family to have six 

 generations living at one time, are lack- 

 ing, but the following facts can be 

 vouched for as coming direct to Dr. Gould 

 from immediate members of the familv. 



Anna Maria Pluck of Pennsylvania 

 was born October 15, 1808, and died 

 October 23, 1908. She married Isaac 

 Pass, great nej^hew of Jacob Pass, in 

 whose foundry (Pass and Stowe) was 

 recast the Independence Bell. 



EXTRE.ME LONGEVITY 



Her daughter, Margaret l<21izabeth 

 Pass, was born March 7, 1837, married 

 Thomas David. Her daughter, Lillie 

 David, was born August 8, 1853, and 

 married Mr. Sayres; a daughter, Lucy 

 Sayrcs, was born Februar}^ 2, 1872, 

 married Mr. McDade. Emma Mc- 

 Dade, daughter, was born November 

 8, 1888, and married Mr. Feinman; 

 their child Celestes Feinman, was born 

 on July 1, 1907. The photograph, here 

 reproduced, was taken either on the 

 27 or 29 of September, 1908. 



The longevity of a century in each case, 

 together with early child bearing and 

 unusual fecundity, make these cases 

 almost without parallel. It is to be 

 hoped that other investigators will be 

 able to discover similar families and 

 to furnish additional data. 



The Effect of Recessive Factors' 



If we have two plants with a pair of 

 contrasted characters inherited in al- 

 ternative fashion, we are obliged to 

 consider these as consequences of the 

 presence of alternative factors, A and 

 a, in the germ-cells. Then we usually 

 can only compare the effects of the 

 factorial pairs A A, Aa, and aa. We 

 usually know nothing as to the effect 

 . of A alone or a alone, or of aa in the 

 presence of A, etc. The work of 

 Hayes and East on triploid inherit- 

 ance, makes it probable that in the 

 endosperm of maize, in a certain pair 

 of factors, Aaa produces the same 

 effect as aa, and AAa the same effect 

 as A A. Here bf)th factors of the pair 

 have a definite influence. Some influ- 

 ence of the recessive factor is probably 



indicated also in Morgan's crosses of 

 certain sex-linked factors in Droso- 

 phila, where the heterozygous female 

 Aa differs from the male A-, in the 

 particular character. In cases classed 

 as multiple allelomor])hs we consider 

 both factors of a pair as producing 

 definite effects. According to the pres- 

 ence and absence hypothesis, the reces- 

 sive factor (or one factor of the pair, 

 where the heterozygote is clearly inter- 

 mediate) is always zero. This hypoth- 

 esis seems to have experimental sup- 

 port, only where the effect of Aa is 

 apparently the same as that of AA. 

 A study of the inheritance in tetra- 

 ploid ]3rimulas with special reference 

 to any influence of the rccessi\-e might 

 be fruitful. 



'Hays, H. K. and East, E. M. FuiUkt Exi)crinK-nts cm inheritance in maize. Conn. .\gr. 

 Expt. Sta. Bull. 188, 1915. 



