SPIEGLER 'S "WHITE MELANIN" AS RELATED 

 TO DOMINANT OR RECESSIVE WHITE' 



DR. ROSS AIKEN GORTXER 

 Station fob Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 



Introduction 



The study of melanin has interested a great number 

 of chemists during the last century and of especial in- 

 terest was the announcement by Spiegler, 2 in 1904, that 

 he had succeeded in obtaining a "white melanin" from 

 sheep's wool and white horse hair. 



The question of white plumage and hair color has 

 been widely studied from breeding standpoints — at- 

 tracting unusual interest from the fact that there are 

 undoubtedly two varieties of white, one of which is 

 dominant and the other recessive. The reason for this 

 peculiarity seemed, therefore, to be explained by the 

 discovery of the "white melanin." In the light of this 

 new knowledge it would seem that one variety of white 

 was produced by the presence of a white coloring matter 

 and that this would be dominant in a cross with another 

 color having a weaker determiner. The recessive white, 

 however, would be recessive because there would be an 

 entire absence of pigment and would therefore be a case 

 of dominance of color over absence of color. 



Riddle, 3 in referring to Spiegler 's work, seems to take 

 this view, as does also Spillman. 4 Spiegler, 5 in a later 

 paper, while giving no further experimental work on 



'Used in the Mendelian sense. [Contribution from the Biochemical 

 Laboratory of the Station for Experimental Evolution, The Carnegie Insti- 

 tution of Washington.] 



2 Spiegler, Hofmeister's Bcitr. z. Ch, m. Physiol, it. Path., 4, 40, 1904. 



3 Riddle, Biol. Bull., 16, 328, 1909. 

 'Spillman, this journal, 44, 119, 1910. 



"Spiegler, Hofmeister's Bcitr. z. Chem. Physiol, u. Both., 10, 253, 1907. 

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