490 



Tiii: Joi'RKAL OF Heredity 



amount of further work must be done 

 alon^' the lines already worked in part. 



Pigmentation in albinos, cspecialh' 

 that of the eye, seems to increase with 

 age. Nystagmus is almost always pres- 

 ent in albinos and a high degree of 

 hyijermetropia and astigmatism arc 

 found in higher correlation with albin- 

 ism than with normality, but the poor 

 sight charactersitic of individuals af- 

 fected with all)inism is due more to de- 

 ficiency of retinal j^igment than to these 

 defects. Hair color is due to pigment 

 diffused through the fibrilae of the hair 

 like a dye, or as distinct granules of jjig- 

 ment bcwteen the fibrilae. This duality, 

 because the authors consider the ab- 

 sence of granular ]5igmcnt the distin- 

 guishing mark of albinism in hair, is 

 presumed to j^reclude the study of the 

 heredity of ])igmentation without the 

 aid of the microscope. Further, there is 

 the suggestion of changes in pigmenta- 

 tion, such as those that accompany age 

 and those that seasonal changes occa- 

 sion, which the authors think must be 

 taken into account for thoroughness' 

 sake. Ex])eriments on Pekinese spaniels, 

 conducted by the investigators, led to 

 the drawing of conclusions similar to 

 those derived from the study of albin- 

 ism in man with special emjjhasis on 

 the fact that, although tested according 

 to Mendelian formulas, "no sim]jle 

 fonn of Mendelian theory applies to 

 the coat color of dogs." 



Although the spirit of fainnindediicss 

 runs through the whole mcjnograph, yet 

 one cannot hel]) noticing a distinct re- 

 frain of antimendelism which crops out 

 ago in and again with such emphasis 

 that it must be mentioned here not 

 through any desire to enter this field of 

 controversy but because it nucleates so 

 much of the material dealt with and 

 seems to play so large a r61e in the 

 thought of the authors that it may not 

 well be omitted. As this memoir comes 

 from a labf)ratory of Eugenics, one is led 

 to conclude that its ])rincii)al object is 

 related to this young science and that 

 whatever social connotations it may 

 carry arc more important than its 

 bearing on or relation to oi)hthalmology 

 orgeograi)hy. The following quotation, 

 therefore, would seem lo embodv the 



essential spirit of the whole and may 

 fittingly be cited as indicative of the 

 main conclusions of the work already 

 done. 



Say the authors: 



"As we have seen in the course of 

 this work albinism is a graded character, 

 and we have every reason to believe 

 that both in man and dogs separate 

 grades arc hereditary. Further than 

 this we should hesitate to go at the 

 present stage of our experimental work. 



MENDELISM AND EUGENICS. 



"Mendelism is at present the mode 

 — no other conception of heredity can 

 even obtain a hearing. Yet one of the 

 present writers at least believes that a 

 reaction must shortly set in, and that 

 the views of Galton will again come by 

 their own. At any rate as far as we 

 have gone at present the experiments 

 on dogs seem to indicate that there is 

 still a chance for philosophic Darwin- 

 ism — i. e., the theory that small varia- 

 tions are continuously occurring and 

 can be perpetuated by selection. The 

 problem of whether ])hilosophical Dar- 

 winism is to disa]3pear before a theory 

 which provides nothing l:)ut a shuffling 

 of old unit characters \-aried by the 

 ai)])earance of an unexplained fit of 

 mutation is not the only point at issue 

 in breeding experiments. There is a 

 still graver matter that we face, when 

 we adduce evidence that all characters 

 do not follow Mendelian rules. Men- 

 delism is being a])])lied wholly ])rema- 

 turely to anthro])ological and social 

 ])roblcms in order to deduce rules as to 

 disease and pathological states which 

 have serious social bearing. A careful 

 record of facts will last for ages, but 

 theory is ever in the making or the un- 

 making. In all that relates to the evo- 

 lution of man and to the problems of 

 race-betterment, it is better to admit 

 our jjresent limitations than to force 

 our data into Mendelian theory and on 

 the basis of such rules i)ro])ound sweep- 

 ing racial theories and inculcate" (k-fl- 

 ite rules for social conduct. Even if the 

 offspring of an albino ])arcnt be them- 

 selves normal, we cannot adxnsc them 

 that all is safe if they marry into nor- 

 mal stock; for not onlv is Mendelism 



