Science: Sinister Gene

Cattle breeders are in a fluster about dwarf calves, which are being born in ever-increasing numbers in the U.S. and Canada, and cattle experts are building up herds of dwarfs for study. Last week Professor E. W. Stringam of the University, of Manitoba was tenderly nursing a bull calf which he and assistants had delivered by Caesarean section from a dwarf cow. The calf, sired by a normal young bull, is normal in proportions. It will outweigh its mother in three months, but it probably carries the taint of hereditary dwarfism.

Geneticists believe that dwarfism is a classic example of Mendelian inheritance,...

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