PLANT HYBRIDIZATION BEFORE MENDEL 365 



form of a small octavo volume entitled "Mendel's Principles of 

 Heredity; A Defence," now out of print. Concerning these publi- 

 cations he says later, in the preface to his "Mendel's Principles of 

 Heredity" : 



"The translation of the first of Mendel's two papers, based on a draft 

 prepared for the society by Mr. C. T. Druery, was printed in the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Journal, 1901. With modifications I published it 

 separately in 1902, giving a brief summary of Mendelism as then de- 

 veloped, under the title 'Mendel's Principles of Heredity; a Defence.' 

 The object of that publication was to put Mendel's work before the Eng- 

 lish-speaking peoples, and to repel the attack which the late Professor 

 Weldon had recently made on Mendelian methods and the conclusions 

 drawn from them. The edition was at once sold out, but I did not reprint 

 the book. As a defence it had served its purpose." 



In 1909, under the title "Mendel's Principles of Heredity," 

 Bateson published, in a volume of about four hundred pages, the 

 results of the Mendelian investigations made by himself and his 

 fellow-workers, together with results from the general field, al- 

 ready very considerable. In the second part of this volume there 

 appeared a biographical notice of Mendel, and translations of 

 Mendel's papers "Experiments in Plant-Hybridization" and "On 

 Hieracium-Hybrids obtained by xA^rtificIal Fertilization." This 

 work was reprinted with appendixes in 1913. It is only justice to 

 Professor Bateson to say that the general recognition of Mendel's 

 work and Its fundamental significance In England and this coun- 

 try Is largely due. In Its Inception, to his clear-sighted compre- 

 hension of the requirements for an Investigation of the problem 

 of heredity, and his Immediate and ready appreciation of the Im- 

 portance of Mendel's results, based upon his own prolegomenon 

 of opinion, and as confirmed by the work of Mendel's three dis- 

 coverers. To Bateson's prompt and courageous championship of 

 the then comparatively obscure matter of the Mendelian Law, the 

 first progress In English-speaking quarters of the principles in- 

 volved Is therefore chleflv to be accredited. 



pp. 1-32 of Vol. 26 for 1901-02. The paper is prefaced by a two-page 

 Introductory note by W. Bateson. The name of the translator does not 

 itself appear. In the first paragraph of his note Bateson writes : 



"It will consequently be a matter for satisfaction that the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society has undertaken to publish a translation of this extraor- 

 dinarily valuable contribution to biological science." 



