MENDEL AND HIS GARDEN PEAS 25 



3. When hybrids are mated with each other, half of their 

 offspring will be hybrid, one quarter will be pure-bred like 

 the father, the other quarter will be pure-bred like the mother. 



These, then, are Mendel's great laws of inheritance. He 

 discovered them by studying averages taken for multitudes 

 of cases. They apply equally well to plants and to animals 

 of every kind in every land. 1 



Mendel discovered his laws through the help of garden 

 peas. Other scientists have proved them through the help 

 of rats, rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, and other small animals. 

 We ourselves should make use of them for the advantage of 

 our own descendants. 



1 In 1900, just before Mendel's work had been discovered, these same 

 laws of inheritance were rediscovered by three different students, who inves- 

 tigated independently in three different countries De Vries in Holland, 

 Correns in Germany, and Tschermak in Austria. 



