CHAPTER XII 



35*. The Contribution of William Bateson. 



A HISTORICAL survey of the circumstances surrounding 

 the discovery of Mendel's paper in 1900 would be incoin- 

 .plete without including the contribution of Professor Wil- 

 liam Bateson (now deceased), formerly of Cambridge University, 

 then director of the John Innes Horticultural Institution of Mer- 

 ton — the first translator and editor of Mendel's papers into 

 English. 



For a considerable time Bateson had worked upon the phe- 

 nomena of variation, and particularly upon what was designated 

 "discontinuous variation," as a means of evolution. In this par- 

 ticular field Professor Bateson was the most conspicuous investi- 

 gator in the English-speaking world, in a somewhat similar man- 

 ner as, under the thesis of the Mutation Theory, De Vries re- 

 mained upon the Continent. In this connection, Bateson had pub- 

 lished a considerable volume of material in his "Materials for 

 the Study of Variation, treated with Especial Regard to Discon- 

 tinuity in the Origin of Species." (593 pp., London, 1894.) 



At the sessions of the International Conference on Hybridiza- 

 tion (the Cross-breeding of Species), and on the Cross-breeding 

 of Varieties, called at the invitation of the Council of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, and held at Chiswick and London (July 11 

 and 12, 1899), Bateson presented a paper entitled "Hybridiza- 

 tion and cross-breeding as a method of scientific investigation," 

 read July 11, 1899, and published in the Hybrid Conference Re- 

 port (Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc, Vol. 24, pp. 59-66). 



In this paper it is interesting to note Bateson's attitude of mind 

 during this transition period. Bateson says : 



"The first question was : How large are the integral steps by which 

 varieties arise *? The second question is : How, when they have arisen, are 



