Darwin-L Message Log 2:63 (October 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<2:63>From @UKCC.UKY.EDU:KIERNAN@UKCC.UKY.EDU  Mon Oct 11 13:05:44 1993

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 13:58:34 EDT
From: Kevin Kiernan <KIERNAN@UKCC.uky.edu>
Subject: Re: The term "locus"
To: Multiple recipients of list <darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu>

On Mon, 11 Oct 1993 11:54:35 -0500 Kent E. Holsinger said:

>O'Hara asked where the term "locus" was first used to describe the position
>of a gene on a chromosome.  He correctly surmised that T. H. Morgan was
>involved.  The citation I have is:
>
>Morgan, T. H., A. H. Sturtevant, H. J. Muller, and C. B. Bridges.  1915.  The
>  mechanism of Mendelian heredity.  H. Holt. & Co., New York.

According to the Supplement of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the
earliest citation is 1913: "Jrnl. Exper. Zool. XV. 591.  White and eosin
are allelomorphic to each other, that is, they occupy the same locus
in the sex chromosome."  The second citation, for 1915, is the one Kent
cites.

Kevin Kiernan, KIERNAN@UKCC.UKY.EDU

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