90 J. B. CLELAND. 
answer, I think, is clear. The cells, in this case, are not 
- pure cells, but hybrids—hybrids with brown and relatively 
fine as dominant factors, coarse and red as recessive fac- 
tors. As long as the factor or factors for brown and fine- 
ness exist in the cells, the hair formed is of this texture. 
If by any accident—and who can guess its nature ?—the 
dominant factor drops out or is inhibited, then the cells 
must, and do, produce a hair of the recessive type. This 
seems to me a reasonable and sound explanation of the 
circumstances and, to my mind, shows that a dominant 
factor may disappear or be inhibited in a group of somatic 
cells, and that then the antithetic recessive one will appear. 
Now are the changes in cancer those characteristic of 
gametoid tissue? Columns of cells invade a subjacent tis- 
sue—so does the primitive germinal epithelium. Reducing 
divisions eventually occur in normal gametogenic tissues, 
preparatory to the formation of the highly differentiated 
gametes—reducing divisions, both heterotype and homo- 
type, are of common occurrence in cancerous processes, but 
there is no formation of specialised gametes, only clumsy 
potential gametes appearing. Such reducing divisions are 
the chief characteristic of gametogenic tissue, and occur 
thus also in cancer. 
Reversing the view here -put forward, may I ask what 
changes one would expect if the somatic cells were econ- 
sidered as possessing recessive gametoid potentialities, and 
the dominant somatic factors were suppressed or inhibited ? 
One would expect an attempt at the formation of a bizarre 
ovary or testis, or at least of a tissue comprised of the noble 
elements of these organs. The cells affected would invade 
the surrounding tissues, and would sooner or later undergo 
reducing divisions preparatory to the formation of gametes. 
All this occurs, and the cancerous process is exactly what — 
one would expect under these circumstances. 
