As we saw on a post here two weeks ago, Waddington was very interested in exploring the processes by which the shapes and patterns of biological forms are brought into being (morphogenesis). These two pictures are part of a file relating to a short research project which Waddington conducted in collaboration with Russell J. Cowe, a programmer from the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, between June and August 1968. Cowe worked with Waddington on the simulation of molluscan shell patterns using Computer-Aided Design. This project involved a computer programme being written (in Fortran, and worked out on an Eliot 4130 computer) which attempted to simulate the pattern on the shell and so provide some idea of the rules controlling how pigment is deposited during pattern formation, particularly the random factor determining points of initiation of diverging lines of pigment. The computer programme contained parameters controlling the density of random points of pattern initiation and different parts of the developing shell, and the angle of divergence of the lines.

The results, which were published as a paper entitled ‘Computer Simulation of a Molluscan Pigmentation Pattern’ in the Journal of Theoretical Biology (Vol. 25, No. 2, pp 219-25, November 1969), appear strikingly imaginative and futuristic considering the early date in computer technology!

On last week’s blog we looked at a print of C.H Waddington’s epigenetic landscape, part of our collection of diagrams, illustrations and photographs used in Waddington’s publications.

This picture is also from this collection of illustrative material, being one of the original plates and figures used for Waddington’s 1962 book New Patterns in Genetics and Development (Figure 56 in the book). There are 68 figures and 23 plates present in the collection, out of the total 72 figures and 24 plates which appear in the book. The images, mounted on card, bear the stamp of the book’s publisher, Columbia University Press and are marked with symbols and annotations.

The image shows patterns in the wings of the moth Plodia interpunctella, and is used in the book to illustrate a fundamental question posed by Waddington: ‘How is any individual pattern generated?’ Waddington describes what he calls ‘the superposition of several different patterns, which can be recognised as physiologically distinct from one another, either because they are formed at different times during development, or because they react differentially to experimental treatments.’ The image shows ‘a series of adult wings that have been, as it were, frozen in successive stages in the process of pattern formation’. The normal adult wing at a) on the right, while e), for example, shows the result of heat treatment in wild moths (one way by which one can externally disrupt or divert the process of wing pattern formation during development).

The images were returned to Waddington by Columbia University Press in August 1963, along with the original manuscript, which also forms part of the Waddington archive.

It appears that C.H Waddington’s interest in animals was not merely confined to biology and genetics: the other day I happened across this drawing among some correspondence of Waddington’s about his visit to various Universities and research institutions in India in October 1968 under the auspices of British Council. Waddington seemingly took a fancy to having a statuette of this horse made out of clay ‘by a village craftsman’, a process overseen by his friend Prof R.V. Seshaiya from the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Porto Novo, in South India. A letter from Seshaiya to Waddington on February 27 1969 claims that ‘the ‘horse’ is nearing completion. The only item of work is painting it. The doll-maker tells me that he will hand over the finished model in about a week’s time’ before adding, ‘of course his measure of time is different from ours.’ It would certainly appear so –  the parcel eventually arrived in September!

Waddington’s reply to Seshaiya on 26 September 1969 notes that ‘my wife and I are very pleased with [the horse]. It travelled quite safely except for one or two of the minor ornaments which we can quite easily put back with adhesive. I am very grateful for the trouble you took over this and it will be a wonderful reminder of our pleasant time at Porto Novo.’ We don’t know whether the two wonderfully dressed gentlemen ever formed part of the ornament!

The significance of the horse is not known, and neither is it clear who made this rather accomplished drawing, from which, presumably, the horse was modelled. We’ve seen from previous posts that Waddington could clearly draw, but I suspect even his skills did not extend this far. It could possibly have been his architect wife, Justin Blanco White, or perhaps someone in India. The mystery remains, but it’s certainly interesting to see what can turn up in folders of correspondence!

I was interested to find among Waddington’s typescripts and manuscripts these notebooks containing the printed draft proofs of Waddington’s book New Patterns in Genetics and Development. The book was based on the Jesup lectures Waddington delivered to Columbia University in 1961 and was published by Columbia Press in 1962.

In New Patterns, Waddington not only explores the emergence of patterns in biological development, but also examines the new patterns of thought that had emerged in genetics and biochemistry. As ever though, he pushes forward to working towards developing new approaches, particularly with regard to morphogenesis (the biological process which causes an organism to develop its shape, causing ‘the appearance of organised structure within a vast range of sizes from the cellular organelle to the elephant’).

In typically visual language, Waddington describes the ‘ancient conundrum of morphogenesis’ as having ‘the attraction of a real frontier, a region where one is not just trying to fill in an already existing sketch map, but where one has to try and figure out the bare bones of the geography from scratch.’

I like how ‘patterns’ even find their way onto the covers of these notebooks!