BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF MENDEL*. 



GREGOR JOHANN MENDEL was born on July 22, 1822, 

 at Heinzendorf bei Odrau, in the " Kuhland " district of 

 Austrian Silesia. His father was a small peasant proprietor, 

 being the first of the family to raise himself to that degree, 

 and he held his land by a kind of socage, performing 

 "Robot" (agricultural labour) for the lord. 



The name Mendel suggests a Jewish origin, but it is 

 practically certain that the suggestion is incorrect. The 

 family appears in the Church Register of the seventeenth 

 century the earlier ones were burnt by the Hussites 

 usually under the name Mendel, whereas it was not till the 

 reign of Joseph II (1765-1790) that the Jews in Austria 

 assumed definite surnames. At the time of the Thirty 

 Years' War Kuhland was a protestant district, and several 

 of Mendel's ancestors were of that persuasion. His four 

 grandparents were all of the local Heinzendorf stock, which 

 may be described as a German colony surrounded by a 



* I regret that the short paragraph which I published in 1902 respecting 

 Mendel's career contained several inaccuracies. The materials supplied to 

 me were meagre and in many respects incorrect. Somewhat fuller sources 

 of information are before me now. Of these the chief is an annotated 

 report of the oration delivered by Mendel's nephew, Dr Alois Schindler, in 

 July, 1902, at the unveiling of a memorial tablet at Heinzendorf. Other 

 facts are to be gathered from Mendel's letters to Nageli dated 1866-1873 

 (Bibliography, 197); an article by Dr E. von Proskowetz in Neue Freie 

 Presse, 24 July, 1902 ; a similar notice by Dr Wiesner in the Wiener 

 Abendpost, November, 1901 ; and from a somewhat fuller account published 

 by Dr H. von Iltis in Tagesbote aus Mahren, 1906. I have to thank 

 Dr Janetschek and Dr von Niessl for assistance given in the course of 

 inquiries which I made in Briinn, and both Dr Ferdinand Schindler and his 

 brother, Dr Alois Schindler, for letters giving many interesting particulars 

 respecting their uncle. I understand that Dr von Iltis has a fuller biography 

 in hand. My most serious misstatement was to the effect that in his later 

 years Mendel devoted himself to the Ultramontane Controversy. This was 

 a complete mistake. The dispute in which he engaged was, as is described 

 above, of a totally different nature. 



