Origins of Inbred Mice by Herbert C. Morse III (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Origins ofInbred Mice. Edited by Herbert C. Morse III. New York: Academic Press, 1978. Pp. 736. $36.00. When nineteenth-century naturalists cataloged the members of the animal kingdom, few would have predicted that the mouse would become "man's best friend" scientifically. Today, our young scientists are spoiled by the ready availability of this animal model—they need only pick up the telephone and place an order without having to face the tedious problems of breeding them in their laboratory. This volume is the story of how this dream became the reality that it is today. It is the proceedings of a workshop held in Bethesda, Maryland, in February 1978 to honor the distinguished scientists who contributed so much to the development of the many strains of inbred mice. Some 77 authors have contributed to this volume, to pay tribute to the handful of scientists who were responsible for overcoming the problems of inbreeding and for developing the great variety of over 400 mouse strains that, as a result, are available to us today. But in addition to the biographical sketches and the personal anecdotes, the greater part of the book gives the reader a taste of some of the more recent and intriguing developments in murine biology and provides a cross section of scientific endeavors rarely included in a single volume. As Dr. Herbert Morse summarizes in his introductory remarks, the basic scientific areas touch upon a wide spectrum, including cancer research, immunology, biochemistry, hematology , pharmacology, virology, cytogenetics, theoretical and applied genetics, and zoology. The value of using inbred strains of laboratory animals in biochemical research has long been recognized by geneticists and cancer-research workers, and, more recently, by immunologists. In Clyde Keeler's chapter he reminds us of the many uses ofthe mouse today: in testing carcinogenic drugs, in testing for diabetic and epileptic agents, and in studying the effects of therapeutic drugs; in the standardization of sera; to isolate viruses and fungi; to produce rabies antibodies and for botulism titration; to test for bacterial virulence; in pregnancy tests; to study weightlessness, radiation effects, and in psychology experiments; and in genetics and the mapping of human chromosomes. Jan Kleinjoins in this tribute when he reminds us that it would be difficult for us to envisage the state of our scientific knowledge today if inbred strains of mice had never been developed. "Among the disciplines that would have been hardest hit would have been immunogenetics and in particular transplantation genetics. How could we have accumulated all the current knowledge about the individual gene, or the major histocompatibility complex?" (p. 668). One can only agree with him when he praises these early pioneers with the tribute that "they have put into our hands a tool for contemporary biology as indispensable as the analytical balance, the pH meter, or the Sephadex column" (p. 668). Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author. 1 60 Booh Reviews So many men and women played a part in the development of inbred mouse strains that one can only select a handful of representative donors for their contributions. Many of the students of William E. Castle of Harvard, the "father of mammalian genetics," went on to use the mouse as a research tool. Especially singled out for remembrance are the many contributions of Clarence Cook Little, affectionately known as "Prexy" by his colleagues and friends, who was one of the founders of the Jackson Laboratory as well as serving as president of the University of Maine and later of the University of Michigan. Others who are mentioned include Clara Lynch, Leonell C. Strong, Jacob Fürth, Howard B. Andervont, Walter E. Heston, George D. Snell, Margaret C. Green, Earl L. Green, and Clyde Keeler. Those of us at the University of Chicago fondly remember Maude Slye and her brilliant studies, as early as 1915, using her mice to investigate the role of dominant-recessive inheritance in cancer. Not all of the contributors were university professors, for science owes a debt ofgratitude to Miss Abbie Lathrop ofGranby, Massachusetts, who bred and sold the animals for pets. Mice from this source were supplied to...