ABSTRACT
Somatic mutations have been reported as arising in both plant and animal cells. Following such a mutation a localized area of the body will exhibit characters distinctly unlike the general characteristics of other comparable regions. The occasional appearance of a blue segment in the brown iris of a person's eye, or blond and red areas in the head hair of a black-haired person, may possibly, in certain cases at least, be due to mutations in somatic cells resulting in a recessive expression in limited body areas. Additional gene changes which affected structures other than those belonging to the eye were induced by the X-ray. It was found that the size of the white area on the eye was determined by the embryonic stage at which the treatment was given, and not by the strength of the dose of X-rays employed.
