The First Fifty Years at the Jackson Laboratory By Jean Holstein (review)

experts. In three general discussions, questions are raised, speculations presented , and doubts expressed. The participants in this symposium behaved as though their comments would not be recorded. I strongly recommend this volume not only to human geneticists but also to all of the others in genetics looking for a model on how to organize a stimulating symposium and how to stir the muddy waters in which the frontiers are hiding. TL· First Fifty Years at tL·Jackson Laboratory. By Jean Holstein. Bar Harbor, Me.: Jackson Laboratory, 1979. Pp. 231+xiii. $5.00. The number of free-standing world-class research institutes can be counted on the fingers of not more than two hands. The Jackson Laboratory occupies an index finger. This history of its first 50 years could have been presented as an unfinished drama in three acts with an extraordinary leading man in C. C. Little, the founder, a superb supporting cast over the years in its staff, two near catastrophes in the Great Depression and the Great Fire, and finally fulfillment. Instead, the author has presented a history with facts, dignity, and a proper balance between the origin and growth of the Jax Lab and its contribution to cancer research and the many facets of mammalian genetics. Above all is the emphasis on the mouse and those essential mammalian genetics reagents, the inbred mouse lines. After plants, flies, and microbes crowded the center stage and eventually led to molecular genetics, the mouse has moved out of the wings and accepted a leading role in studying the prime mammal, man, at the molecular level. Why Bar Harbor, Maine? G. B. Dorr, first superintendent of Acadia (nee Lafayette) National Park on Mt. Desert Island, persuaded the Marine Biological Laboratory to move to Salisbury Cove in the island. During his presidencies at Maine and Michigan, Little had used the site as a base for field courses and involved wealthy summer residents in his plan to establish a cancer research institute in Bar Harbor. WhyJackson Laboratory? Mrs. Jackson honored her late husband's offer of financial support, and the research institute was named the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory on May 4, 1929. Within 1 year, a small building was erected, the mouse colony was established, Little arrived, and the second investigator (L. C. Strong)joined the venture. Research commenced and the first inbred lines were increased in number. Then, the Great Depression became an active partner in plans to raise funds for maintenance and growth. In 1933, the institute began the sale of mice and salaries were cut across the board. Survival was questionable but never questioned. Little was the indomitable leader, contact man, and fund raiser. During World War II, mouse sales rose and the institute made a significant income from its major resource. With property gifts and increased financial support, the laboratory expanded physically and intellectually. The Great Bar Harbor Fire cost the laboratory dearly when the precious inbred lines, the buildings, the essential library, and the momentum were destroyed . The core was untouched. Little, the entire staff, the scientific community , funding organizations, and the local citizenry and gentry rallied and the 506 I Book Reviews phoenix emerged—the current Jackson Laboratory with its illustrious staff and eminent alumnae and alumni. The remainder of the history is devoted to the scientific contributions of the Jackson Laboratory to cancer research and those aspects of mammalian genetics concerned with transplantation, disease, reproduction, development and behavior . Last but certainly not least, the training program for summer workers is presented. The Jackson Laboratory and the mouse have come a long way in the last 50 years and the best is yet to be. The history of the first 50 years should be required reading for genetic novitiates and for the nonmammalian geneticists. From its beginning, the course of genetics was marked with conflict between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. No other scientific discipline would dare to present a central dogma: DNAí^RNA—»protein. In few disciplines have so many apparently trivial observations been the genesis of new directions and concepts. Yet, a single publication on the physicochemical organization of genetic material in a double helix of DNA (no need anymore to translate the letters) by...