304 BIOCHEMICAL SYSTEMATICS 



Some of the statements from Reichert's work are truly exceptional 

 for the period. For example, in connection with the appearance of 

 "new" characters associated with hybrids Reichert states: 



Occasionally the hybrids of the first generation show properties which 

 are entirely different from those of both parent species. This is partic- 

 ularly noticeable in the colors of the flowers. The most noteworthy ex- 

 ample of this is the blue-blossomed hybrids of the white Datura ferox 

 with the equally white species D. laevis and D. straemonium hertolonia. 

 Instances of unexpected blossom-coloration are numerous in hybrids of 

 species with colored flowers, in which the hybrids in no way show the 

 coloring which one would expect from a mixture of the pigments of the 

 parents. ... In the crossing of races properties appear many times 

 which do not resemble the parent form but other races of the same 

 species. . . . The hybrid Nicotiana rustica x N. paniculata shows at 

 times the flower coloration of N. texana, a foreign subspecies of 

 N. rustica. 



Later, in summary, referring specifically to his own work, Reichert 

 states: 



From the records found in various parts of this work it will be noted 

 that the starch of the hybrid exhibits, histologically, physically and 

 physico-chemically not only both uniparental and biparental inher- 

 itance, but also individualities that are not observed in either parent; 

 and that any given parental character that appears in the hybrid may 

 be found in quality and quantity to be the same or practically the 

 same as that of one parent or both parents, or of some degree of inter- 

 mediateness or developed in excess or deficit of parental extremes. 



And earher, in his introduction, in connection with the excerpt 

 immediately preceding the above he says: 



Neither the doctrine of intermediateness nor the doctrine of Mendel 

 admits of the possibility of generating ideal organisms by crossing and 

 selection, nor are they consistent with the development of parental 

 characters in the hybrid beyond parental extremes; nor are they com- 

 patible with the appearance of new characters except upon the unten- 

 able assumption of such characters being latent in the parents. 



It should be remembered that at the time the above was written, 

 geneticists did not have extensive knowledge of quantitative inheri- 

 tance or biochemical genetics. Such statements appear to be quite 

 naive. When numerous genes cooperate in influencing a trait either 

 quantitatively or qualitatively (multiple factors), when a complex 



