Women’s Eyes and Potato Skins 
Seventy-five per cent of the cases, he 
thought, could be explained by the 
hypothesis? that ‘‘There has been sim- 
ply the loss of a dominant character and 
hence the appearance of a related re- 
cessive Character.’” -_ 
This hypothesis has been accepted by 
most geneticists as a good explanation 
of the sudden change of potato skins 
from purple to white. And as Dr. 
Gates has pointed out, it can also 
explain the sudden change of a girl’s 
eyes from brown to blue; for brown 
and blue, in the human eye, appear to 
be related to each other in the same 
way that purple and white are in 
potato skins; the darker color is domin- 
ant and the lighter one recessive.’ 
Now a field of potato plants, propa- 
gated by tubers (“‘eyes’’) really repre- 
sents just so many parts of a single 
individual. Similarly we may assume 
that these gquadruplets represent just 
477 
so many parts of a single individual. 
It is not asserted that this is the case, 
for we have no real proof. We make 
the assumption for the sake of illustra- 
tion. If the assumption is correct, then 
the blue in Leota’s eyes appeared be- 
cause the brown dropped out, just as in 
one potato the white may appear be- 
cause (the “purple drops .outt.lhe 
parallel is a homely one, but it strik- 
ingly illustrates the fact that heredity 
in man follows the same laws as heredity 
in the lower animals, and in plants. It 
is introduced here merely to point out 
that individuals are not necessarily 
all alike, even if they have identical 
heredity, as identical twins have and 
as potatoes or other plants propagated 
asexually have. There is always the 
possibility of ‘“‘somatic segregation,” 
which produces white-skinned potatoes 
and might be responsible for Leota’s 
azure orbs. 
Emigration after the War 
Eugenicists have called attention to 
the problems which may be presented 
by immigration from Europe after the 
war, but an editorial in the New York 
Times suggests another problem which 
has not been foreseen. Steamship pas- 
senger agents are quoted as saying that 
there will be a great exodus from the 
United States when peace is declared, 
many aliens going home to help rebuild 
their native countries. It is estimated 
that a million may go back, and that 
half of these will stay back. As evi- 
dence of the truth of this view, they 
point to reservations already made for 
passage, by citizens of warring nations. 
Those who are patriotic enough to go 
home and take part in a period of recon- 
struction are likely to be a superior lot 
of people, and froma eugenic viewpoint 
the United States can ill afford per- 
manently to lose half a million such 
residents, particularly if their places 
* Plant World, XI (1908), pp. 77-83. 
are filled by undesirable immigrants 
who may have been unsettled by army 
life until they are unwilling to go back 
to their old occupations. 
The ZJimes concludes: ‘Those who 
look for a great many immigrants say 
that some will come to avoid heavy 
taxes, some because they are unwilling 
to return to European mines and mills 
from the armies in which they have 
served, and others—a host of widows 
and orphans—to be helped by relatives 
and friends here. But it is admitted 
that several European nations will 
probably prohibit emigration, and that 
Great Britain plans to find land for her 
disbanded soldiers in Australia, New 
Zealand, and South Africa. Predictions 
that a great number will come to this 
country are based upon arguments and 
reasoning that may be sound, but in the 
deposits of passage money the steam- 
ship agents have solid facts.” 
’ The father of the quadruplets writes that his wife has blue eyes, as have all her “folks.” 
She is, then, homozygous for blue, and the brown must have come through her husband. He 
states that he and his eleven brothers and sisters all have dark eyes, that they “take after my 
mother.” 
eyes as most of his family have.” 
“My mother’s people all have dark hair and eyes,” he continues; ‘‘my father has blue 
The ancestry of the quadruplets is therefore full of blue eyes, 
and it is certain not only that there is blue in Leota’s eyes, as is easily seen, but that there is also 
blue in the eyes of her three sisters, although it cannot be seen because it is overlaid with the dom- 
inant brown. 
