288 



PLANT HYBRIDIZATION BEFORE MENDEL 



In 1847 he was ordained priest, and in 1851, at the expense of 

 the establishment, he was sent to the University of Vienna, re- 

 maining there until 1853 as a student of mathematics, physics, 

 and biology. On returning to Briinn, he became a teacher, chiefly 

 of physics, in the local Technische Hochschule. It is reported that 

 he was unusually successful as a teacher. In 1868 he was chosen 



Plate XLIII. The Augustinian Cloister at Briinn. 



Abbot of the monastery at Briinn. The famous scientific investi- 

 gations connected with his name were conducted in the monastery 

 garden during the eight years preceding 1865. After his election 

 as Abbot in 1868, his scientific work ceased, and he became in- 

 volved in 1872 in a quarrel with the Austrian government, over 

 a law imposing a special tax upon the property of religious cor- 

 porations. This controversy, and others in which he became in- 

 volved, made the last ten years of his life a period of bitterness 

 and disappointment. On January 6, 1884, Mendel died at the age 

 of 62. In addition to his work with plants, Mendel conducted 

 experiments in the breeding of bees, securing queens of various 



