E. Nettleship to K. Pearson, 14th Aug. 1911.- External URL
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Sent From (Definite): Edward NettleshipSent To (Definite): Karl PearsonDate: 14 Aug 1911
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Holder (Definite): University College London: Special Collections
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Sent fromEdward Nettleship
14 Aug 1911
Description:
‘My dear Pearson,
Ladridge[?] – I expect you have taken the precaution of getting Coats to show L. just which part of which section or sections to draw, & to point out to him the features i.e. the structures, he is to pay special attention to? – I always go to him & show him. Otherwise (although he knows a great deal from long experience & conversation &c.) there is the possibility that in drawing a complex tissue the different part of wh., except in the thinnest of thin sects., are not all on exactly the same plane, he may carefully draw something one does not much want because the other & most important cells &c. happen to be a little out of focus.
He is quick to take the point & very careful & refuses to draw anything he cannot be sure about.
– But I expect it will be all right.
Future dog matings – I had the same idea viz: that one of us should mate a pair of the most coloured albinos, & I specially kept our Patty (b. 15 Aug. 10) for this purpose, as our niece near here has one of the most coloured dogs (Fo). But Patty went white when about 6 mos. old & shows no signs of colouring up again. Fo (who is her senior) retains his colour.
It is perhaps a chance whether to mate Patty & Jack (her father) or Patty & Fo (her full brother of a different litter), the father being-, although a gen. nearer to their coloured ancestors,- much less coloured than his son Fo. Jack more often than not throws some coloured pups (your new litter seems an exception, but it is only 2) – Say what you think?, but very likely convenience may have to decide it if Patty should come on when I am away & cannot easily arrange for Fo.
Galloway’s point (a) I have a section from Coats of a “fair” eye meaning blue or gray iris, but there are no clinical refinements as to presence or absence of a little stroma – or surface – pigmentation here or there, or as to exact shade or tint of blue or gray; a faint greenish would no doubt have been included as “fair”, especially if only the zone near pupil showed this tint.
Barring the chromatophores in the usual places, I can find no pigment at all in the stroma, until one reaches the anterior boundary layer which is I believe only the most anterior of the stoma cells somewhat condensed or packed. In the cells of this layer is a little finely granular yellowish-brown pigment, apparently more abundant in some parts than others & decidedly most scanty (?if present at all) in the peripheral half of the iris surface, i.e. most conspicuous in the pupillary part. This pigmentation might be expected to give Galloway’s phenomenon.
(b) In another eye marked “normal” from Coats, & no doubt [note: ‘ because sent with some other human eyes of Chinese, Tamil &c. wh. show of course extreme pigmentation’] sent because of its light iris though there is no clinical note, a good many of the developing stoma cells show yellow-brown pigmentation & the anterior boundary layer shows considerable similarly coloured pigmentation of anterior boundary layer especially of pupillary & central zone; periphery less pigmented. One may guess that this iris during life may have been of the “tinged” type; hazel or greenish towards pupil, blue or gray at periphery.
(c) Eye of (fig. 48, IV.8. Pl. IX) (Wan-Lee – Mott’s case – source of specimen to be very carefully not divulged.
? Incomplete albsm or only fair normal eye.
Clinically I had noted Irides “slaty blue with a few specks of yellow”. Pupils black. Post-mortem, the cornea being slightly hazy,- Usher could not recognize any coloured spots on the blue.
Iris microscopically epiblastic (posterior epithelial or retinal) layer as dark as normal eyes (Pupils were not red). Two or three pigmented stoma cells in the deep layers; no pigment visible anywhere in anterior boundary layer. I have only a single section; Usher, who made them, send some to Coats & doubtless has others himself; some of these might show a little pigment?
(d) Incomplete albino man (Usher’s case – Bowie – Pl.XXVII. Fig. 25b III. 12). No pigment at all in stroma cells; here & there single cells of anterior boundary layer in one section show pigment granules; in another section not one can be found; ?adventitious.
(e) “ “ “ (Usher’s “ – Robertson. Pl. XIV Fig. 95.II.11). None in stoma. Anterior boundary layer appears to be also quite free, but sections not thin enough for critical exam.
(f) “Perfect” human albino (Sherbrooke Pl. Fig. ) no trace of pigment in any structure, or region, of iris.
Cornaz & dogs. Thank you for quotationl & for anythng you can presently send as to recorded cases.
Pekin abnormalities. I expect such (e.g. cleft palate as you mention, & others) are fairly common in most of the “highly bred” breeds? And the number of albinos we have to deal with is too small to justify saying anything decided as to possible special defects or special prevalence of defects in them.
My paper on the Albino Pekings &c. – I am doing what I can to get this...
...
I think that any little value the paper can hope to have, by interesting the better sort of breeders & yielding to us more information about albinism or other problems of heredity of coat & skin & eye colour in dogs, will depend very much on its being obtainable separately as a reprint (off-print I daresay is more correct but I am too old) either gratis or for a quite modest price. I therefore venture to suggest that it should appear in Biometrika not with the Albsm memoir? I see you allow reprints from Biometrika up to 75; wd. you, or not, make an exception & go to say 100 or rather more at same price as the 50 now allowed on payment? I mean, 25 free & say 100 for payment.
I am of course quite prepared for, indeed I expect, you to say this proposal does not suit & to print the paper, or what of it you approve, into the end of the memoir. But I am sure it will not have the same chance of reaching the sort of people who may be useful there as if separately (to a limited extent) obtained.
...
I have not looked seriously at the new puppies yet; last time, a week ago, at[?] 2-3 days, one was white the other two decidedly brownish. I shall look again in 2-3 days when eyes ought to be open.
Yrs. very sincerely,
E. Nettleship.
I am suggesting to Usher to mate one of his albinos with one of the Pompeks.’
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Sent toKarl Pearson
14 Aug 1911
Description:
‘My dear Pearson,
Ladridge[?] – I expect you have taken the precaution of getting Coats to show L. just which part of which section or sections to draw, & to point out to him the features i.e. the structures, he is to pay special attention to? – I always go to him & show him. Otherwise (although he knows a great deal from long experience & conversation &c.) there is the possibility that in drawing a complex tissue the different part of wh., except in the thinnest of thin sects., are not all on exactly the same plane, he may carefully draw something one does not much want because the other & most important cells &c. happen to be a little out of focus.
He is quick to take the point & very careful & refuses to draw anything he cannot be sure about.
– But I expect it will be all right.
Future dog matings – I had the same idea viz: that one of us should mate a pair of the most coloured albinos, & I specially kept our Patty (b. 15 Aug. 10) for this purpose, as our niece near here has one of the most coloured dogs (Fo). But Patty went white when about 6 mos. old & shows no signs of colouring up again. Fo (who is her senior) retains his colour.
It is perhaps a chance whether to mate Patty & Jack (her father) or Patty & Fo (her full brother of a different litter), the father being-, although a gen. nearer to their coloured ancestors,- much less coloured than his son Fo. Jack more often than not throws some coloured pups (your new litter seems an exception, but it is only 2) – Say what you think?, but very likely convenience may have to decide it if Patty should come on when I am away & cannot easily arrange for Fo.
Galloway’s point (a) I have a section from Coats of a “fair” eye meaning blue or gray iris, but there are no clinical refinements as to presence or absence of a little stroma – or surface – pigmentation here or there, or as to exact shade or tint of blue or gray; a faint greenish would no doubt have been included as “fair”, especially if only the zone near pupil showed this tint.
Barring the chromatophores in the usual places, I can find no pigment at all in the stroma, until one reaches the anterior boundary layer which is I believe only the most anterior of the stoma cells somewhat condensed or packed. In the cells of this layer is a little finely granular yellowish-brown pigment, apparently more abundant in some parts than others & decidedly most scanty (?if present at all) in the peripheral half of the iris surface, i.e. most conspicuous in the pupillary part. This pigmentation might be expected to give Galloway’s phenomenon.
(b) In another eye marked “normal” from Coats, & no doubt [note: ‘ because sent with some other human eyes of Chinese, Tamil &c. wh. show of course extreme pigmentation’] sent because of its light iris though there is no clinical note, a good many of the developing stoma cells show yellow-brown pigmentation & the anterior boundary layer shows considerable similarly coloured pigmentation of anterior boundary layer especially of pupillary & central zone; periphery less pigmented. One may guess that this iris during life may have been of the “tinged” type; hazel or greenish towards pupil, blue or gray at periphery.
(c) Eye of (fig. 48, IV.8. Pl. IX) (Wan-Lee – Mott’s case – source of specimen to be very carefully not divulged.
? Incomplete albsm or only fair normal eye.
Clinically I had noted Irides “slaty blue with a few specks of yellow”. Pupils black. Post-mortem, the cornea being slightly hazy,- Usher could not recognize any coloured spots on the blue.
Iris microscopically epiblastic (posterior epithelial or retinal) layer as dark as normal eyes (Pupils were not red). Two or three pigmented stoma cells in the deep layers; no pigment visible anywhere in anterior boundary layer. I have only a single section; Usher, who made them, send some to Coats & doubtless has others himself; some of these might show a little pigment?
(d) Incomplete albino man (Usher’s case – Bowie – Pl.XXVII. Fig. 25b III. 12). No pigment at all in stroma cells; here & there single cells of anterior boundary layer in one section show pigment granules; in another section not one can be found; ?adventitious.
(e) “ “ “ (Usher’s “ – Robertson. Pl. XIV Fig. 95.II.11). None in stoma. Anterior boundary layer appears to be also quite free, but sections not thin enough for critical exam.
(f) “Perfect” human albino (Sherbrooke Pl. Fig. ) no trace of pigment in any structure, or region, of iris.
Cornaz & dogs. Thank you for quotationl & for anythng you can presently send as to recorded cases.
Pekin abnormalities. I expect such (e.g. cleft palate as you mention, & others) are fairly common in most of the “highly bred” breeds? And the number of albinos we have to deal with is too small to justify saying anything decided as to possible special defects or special prevalence of defects in them.
My paper on the Albino Pekings &c. – I am doing what I can to get this...
...
I think that any little value the paper can hope to have, by interesting the better sort of breeders & yielding to us more information about albinism or other problems of heredity of coat & skin & eye colour in dogs, will depend very much on its being obtainable separately as a reprint (off-print I daresay is more correct but I am too old) either gratis or for a quite modest price. I therefore venture to suggest that it should appear in Biometrika not with the Albsm memoir? I see you allow reprints from Biometrika up to 75; wd. you, or not, make an exception & go to say 100 or rather more at same price as the 50 now allowed on payment? I mean, 25 free & say 100 for payment.
I am of course quite prepared for, indeed I expect, you to say this proposal does not suit & to print the paper, or what of it you approve, into the end of the memoir. But I am sure it will not have the same chance of reaching the sort of people who may be useful there as if separately (to a limited extent) obtained.
...
I have not looked seriously at the new puppies yet; last time, a week ago, at[?] 2-3 days, one was white the other two decidedly brownish. I shall look again in 2-3 days when eyes ought to be open.
Yrs. very sincerely,
E. Nettleship.
I am suggesting to Usher to mate one of his albinos with one of the Pompeks.’
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